A Summer in the Life of Some Not-So-Normal Teenagers
by DoingitWrite
Summary: What happens when you mix 2 young assassins, Tony's genius niece/adopted daughter, Bruce's personal therapist (in a way..), Coulson's powerful daughter, a girl with a hidden past, and a girl wo can't stand the thought of a broken machine? This, apparently.
1. Morning Drawing&Kicking Butt in Budapest

EMILY

"Good morning, Emily."

I'm jolted out of my sleep by Jarvis, our AI. "Why did you wake me up?" I ask, probably sounding really annoyed.

"Your father wants me to inform you he has a press conference this afternoon, and you need to come with him."

"Why didn't he tell me this himself?"

"He doesn't wish to leave the workshop at this time."

"Why are you telling me this at seven in the morning?"

"I... Don't really know."

I roll over in my white Pottery Barn queen-sized bed. "I swear to God, one day, I WILL figure out how to dismantle you."

Jarvis doesn't reply. I think he's finally figured out that I'm dead serious about that. Galaxy, my four-year-old husky, stirs at the foot of my bed. "Good morning, girl," I sigh, rubbing her head.

I wonder what Dad's working on now. Probably some sorta edition to his latest Iron Man suit. Oh. Right. I kinda forgot to mention that part. My dad is Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man.

My true mother is Tony Stark's sister, but she died 13 years ago only a few hours after I was born, and my true dad did some awful stuff after she died, leaving him stuck in prison for the rest of his life. Tony Stark adopted me, because he was my only close relative still alive. Dad has always tried to give me a low profile, so I can have the chance to live a somewhat normal life, which is sorta hard to do. He and I have always had more of a brother-sister relationship then the average father-daughter lovey dovey stuff. Thank goodness we have Pepper around as our peacemaker.

Deciding I probably won't be able to go to sleep again, I get out of my white Pottery Barn queen-sized bed and pull on orange Nike shorts and a navy t-shirt I got from doing track and field at my school, the Los Angeles Private school, a huge elementary, junior high, and high school just outside of downtown Los Angeles, which has recently been voted the number one school in America. I'll be in 8th grade when school starts up again. Summer break began two weeks ago, which was when Ivan Vanko stepped into our lives. His father apparently used to work for Dad's father. Something happened between them, and ever since then, Ivan's dad has sworn his revenge on the Starks. After his dad died, Ivan was sent to do the dirty work. He sabotaged Stark Expo, and tried to kill Dad about two weeks ago, which didn't exactly work. In the end, Ivan blew himself up, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Galaxy interrupts my thoughts. She must've figured out I'm planning on going somewhere. She's running circles around my bedroom, which is actually very hard to do for a dog her size since my room isn't that big. "Jarvis," I re-awaken the AI.

"Yes, Miss Emily?" Jarvis replies as a blue computer screen appears in front of my window giving me a full weather forecast for today. He's obviously trying to kiss up to me now.

"I'm going outside. Don't tell Dad. I want to work on my sketches."

"What if your father begins to search all of Los Angeles for you again in the Mark VI like what he did last Tuesday?"

Facepalm. "What do you think you should do?"

"Tell him?"

Facepalm. Again. "Duh. Now go back into sleep mode."

After combing my shoulder-length dark brown hair into a ponytail, I push open my bedroom door open quietly, and beckon Galaxy to follow me. She stays right at my heels as I creep downstairs to the glass side door that leads to the jungle of palm and Magnolia trees in our side yard. We managed to get the house re-done pretty quickly after Dad and fought in it and practically destroyed the place. Once outside, I'm immediately greeted by morning birdsong and the sound of waves crashing against the rocks below our cliffside mansion. Galaxy prances out behind me and begins to chase the squirrels. I head for my favorite climbing tree, the old Magnolia towards the center of the small forest, and clamber up the branches until I find the branch near the top of the tree I usually sit on. As I'm getting situated, I notice the first rays of the sun as it slowly begins to appear on the horizon. It continues to slip above the Pacific Ocean, changing colors from purple, to pink, to red, then finally to a bright, burning orange as it fully rises in all its glory. I quickly reach into the hollow tree branch above the branch I'm sitting on, and grab the notebook and box of colored pencils I keep hidden in it, and then quickly begin to sketch what I remember of the rising sun before it slips away from my memory.

As I put the finishing touches on the clouds, I feel something rub against my side. It's my 3-year-old cat I named Mouse. He's purring his head off (as per usual) and rubbing my hands. I stroke his thick white fur. After a few minutes, my eyelids slowly begin to grow heavy, and I soon fall into a deep, blissfully dreamless slumber.

LIA

Things I like-summer break. Things I don't really like-having to shut down a terrorist group on an empty stomach.

"There are a couple escapees heading in your direction!"

"I'm on it," I sigh into the Bluetooth as I dust off my black tank top and rock on the heels of my dark combat boots.

Turning invisible, I rush down the alley I was hiding in while I was waiting for orders. I nearly run right into the small group of muscular men who escaped Mom, Clint, and Sara, but manage to steer clear of their panicked stampede. Using my telekinesis, I lift up a parked truck on the side of the street and drop it right in the men's path. They turn around fast, looks of terror on their faces. I become visible. "Hello, boys," I say in a calm tone, hoping to creep them out more.

The men hastily pull guns out of their pockets, aiming them at me. "It won't be that simple," I taunt them as I turn invisible again and use my telekinesis to take the guns out of their hands. "I think I've got them cornered," I whisper into the Bluetooth.

"Ok, we'll be there in a second. Keep them occupied."

"Gladly." I feel a smile curl up on my invisible face. I love Budapest.

To be extra sure the men don't plan on going anywhere, I use a couple of cars from a nearby parking garage to completely block the part of the street we're standing in. I become visible, and then plop down on the street, pulling my iPhone out of a pocket in my black cargo pants. The men have given up, knowing trying to escape would be hopeless. Soon, I begin to hear police sirens and the roar of a jet engine in the distance. I pause the Angry Birds level I was on as the Quinjet makes a graceful landing in the car corral. "Great job," Mom says to me as she walks out of the back of the jet, "but do you mind moving one of the cars so the police can get in?"

"Oh! Right. I guess that's kinda important." I move an SUV back to the parking garage as the police cars come revving in, surrounding the remaining men of the terrorist group.

Mom and the police chief have a conversation in Hungarian. Out of all the languages I know how to speak, Hungarian sadly isn't one of them. When they finish talking, I follow Mom back into the Quinjet. Sara is sitting in the back doing something to her prosthetic leg. Clint is sitting in the pilot's chair. I sink into the hard metal chair next to Sara, exhausted now that my adrenaline rush has passed. Mom goes to the co-pilot's chair, and before I know it, we're in the air, on our way to the helicarrier.

I am an agent for SHIELD. Most of the world knows me as The Mindbender. Agent Natasha Romanoff, my mom, also known as the Black Widow, adopted me from Taiwan when I was a baby. Her boyfriend, Mr. Clint Barton, is Hawkeye. I was going to be the first test subject of SHEILD's recreated Super-soldier Serum, originally used on Steve Rogers (Captain America) during World War II. It worked perfectly, giving me the powers of invisibility and telekinesis, but after the government found out they tested the serum on a little kid, they shut down the operation, leaving me the only person ever to have received Super-soldier Serum Phase 11. There have been rumors going around that the government is looking into the serum again. That will probably get interesting.

"When are you going back to Los Angeles?" Aiden jolts me out of my thoughts.

"I'm stuck on the helicarrier for the rest of the week," I sigh. "Both Mom and Mr. Barton want to find more information on these terrorist groups. They're convinced the groups are somehow all connected. I'm just ready to go home and spend my summer vacation like every other normal thirteen year old."

"Easy for you to say," grumbles Aiden. "That ship is my house!"

"You should come down and visit sometime."

"I'll have to ask Father. Knowing him though, he'll say no. He has a problem of being extremely overprotective."

That makes sense, though. Aiden's (adopted) dad is the current director of SHIELD, making him paranoid that some sorta crime/terrorist ring is out to kidnap Aiden. Even if he is ever captured, he'll be fine. When he was three years old, his original parents were killed in a fire from a gas explosion in their house. Aiden lived, but doctors needed to amputate his right leg because it was so severely burned. He also has a wicked burn scar going across his face. After he was moved to an orphanage, Nick Fury soon adopted him after he noticed Aiden had the makings of a proper genius.

He was right about the whole genius thing. Aiden has been homeschooled to the college level, even though he's only 15 years old. He has even created a robotic prosthetic leg for her left leg that, after undergoing surgery to get it installed, responds to all of his brain's commands, just like a real leg! The leg even has a built-in rocket booster, so he can fly. He's also a weapons and hand-to-hand combat expert, which helped him earn the code name "Metal Fist".

I see the helicarrier in the distance, growing larger as we approach it. The flying aircraft carrier glows in the afternoon sunlight. We soon make a graceful landing on the tarmac. Mom and Mr. Barton look really worried about something as they rush out of the quinjet and into the helicarrier. I look at Aiden, who shrugs. We walk out into the blinding sunlight. "Welcome back, Lillia," Ms. Hill greets me. "How was the mission?"

"Fine," I reply. "Mom and are convinced the terror groups are somehow connected. I don't think they are. I mean, sure; it's not exactly normal to end up shutting down eight terrorist rings in two weeks, but what if crime rates are just higher in the summer?"

shakes her head. "Deny it all you want, but these groups are definitely somehow associated. Their names are all related to one another."

"Say what you want about your 'suspicions', but if you ask me, everyone on this ship is paranoid and seriously need some time off. I think you're just bored now that you've helped saved Tony Stark and gotten him interested in the Avengers Initiative. Oh! And by the way, how many times do I need to remind you to call me Lia until you remember?!"

With that said, I spin on my heels, careful to keep my long light brown ponytail from whipping against my face, and march inside with Aiden following me. "That wasn't really necessary," he says quietly.

I sigh, trying to compose myself. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't. I'm just hungry, and annoyed, and tired, and homesick, and..."

"Ok, ok. I get the idea," Aiden cuts me off, as he runs a hand through his neatly trimmed black hair like what he always does when he's annoyed. "Let's get something to eat now before you lose it even more."


	2. A Spot of Tea With Your Smash?

**ELIZA**

**One hundred days exactly. I was really hoping we'd make it to at least one hundred one, but Bruce was convinced our cover was blown, which wasn't until he decided to Hulk up. Now I'm clinging onto his back with my claws trying to get him to calm down. He's already crashed through our apartment window and is now rampaging through downtown London. "Bruce!" I roar over his smashing. "Get a grip! You've bloody blown our cover!"**

**His giant green head turns in my direction. The Hulk makes a menacing growl, and then flings me off his back, throwing me through the windows of a nearby convenience store. The panicked people inside the shop flee at the sight of my stripes and fangs. I shake myself off, feeling a stab of pain in my shoulder. Leaping to avoid the piles of shattered glass, I return to the street, where the Hulk is still rampaging. I hear the sirens of police cars, which are probably only a few blocks away from where we are. Beginning to panic, I rush blindly at Bruce, who happened to turn around right when I was gaining speed. I pounce on him, focusing all my weight into my large paws. The "Other Guy" falls to the ground. Hard. I hear a thud as his head connects to the pavement. Not good. He's beginning to transform into his human self again. I need to get him away from where the police could find us. Growling at the Londoners stopping to stare at the unusual scene, I manage to drag him into a narrow ally behind an abandoned apartment flat. "That went well," I sigh as he comes to, completely human.**

**"You should be lucky I was wearing the extra-stretchy pants," Bruce chuckles, pulling himself up against the wall and tightening his black yoga pants.**

**I begin to transform into a human again as well. "Our cover has been blown," I say seriously as the last tufts of my light brown pixie-cut hair regrow on my head.**

**"Fantastic." Bruce begins to pace up and down the narrow alleyway. Pacing is nervous tick he's developed. "We need to find a way back into the apartment without the police noticing. I have all my research in there."**

**"Ok," I nod, "let's get going. The police wait for no one."**

**Luckily, the building next to the alley we're in contains our apartment. We climb the stairs of the fire escape, careful not to be seen by the police, who are now standing in the street investigating the damage courtesy of Bruce's serious anger issues. When we reach the window of our apartment, I try pulling it open. I usually forgot to lock the window after I finish taking care of the small garden I created on our already cramped balcony. Secretly, I've always wanted to become a florist, but I guess fate decided to take me down a more important path.**

**My name is Eliza Roberts, and London has been my home ever since I was born. I was put in an orphanage when I was only a baby, because my parents could no longer afford to take care of me. When I was 6, my 1st grade class took a field trip to the local zoo. Long story short, I managed to get myself stuck in the tiger exhibit. I got scratched up quite a bit, but a 3 day long hospital stay and nearly 10 tetanus shots later, the doctors decided I'd be okay. For about 6 months, I was fine, but that changed after I went to sleep one night as a normal human being, and woke up the next morning as a Bengal Tiger! Turns out, the tiger that attacked me used to be a lab rat - Err... Tiger - in an illegal scientific facility in the middle of the Alps. The animal controllers who saved the tiger didn't notice any significant changes to its DNA pattern, so they donated him to the zoo. That was a big mistake. Apparently, the scientists at that illegal lab figured out how to make the tiger's DNA transferrable. If the tiger's saliva makes contact with a human's open wound, that person gains the abilities of a tiger, which is why I'm able to transform into a tiger whenever I wish. 9 years later, I was adopted by the American defense agency called SHIELD, and put in charge of helping Bruce control his anger issues... And the Other Guy.**

**After gathering all essential things in our backpacks, and Bruce put a shirt on, we climb a latter up to the attic we set up in case something like this ever happens. There, Bruce pulls out his satellite communications laptop and contacts SHIELD, who have been in charge of keeping Bruce and I under cover. Agent Coulson answers the video chat request. Bruce immediately begins to explain our situation. "Our cover's been-"**

**"Blown," Coulson finishes the sentence. "We know. We're already working on relocating you guys. A helicopter should be arriving on your roof in about 5 minutes."**

**With that said, the chat ends. This is one of the many things that bug me about Coulson. He's unrealistically proactive, always gives me weird looks, and apparently has an obsession with Captain America. Speaking of the Captain, I wonder how he's doing. Last time Coulson bothered telling us anything about him was when he broke out of the SHIELD facility in New York City a few months after he was discovered in Antarctica in suspended animation.**

**"I guess we should get to the roof," Bruce suggests slowly, noticing how annoyed I'm becoming.**

**"I guess so," I sigh, letting my problem with Coulson go. "Let's go."**


	3. Ranting&The Escape Plan

**A.N: I am a horrible person. Not touching this story for nearly a week is unacceptable. I promise I'll start updating more often. Please review! I don't bite (:**

ALEX

"You're leaving again?! You only came back from your last business trip yesterday."

"I know, but business has really begun to pick up, and I can't miss this meeting. I've already arranged for you to stay with Emily."

"At least I won't be home alone for a whole day this time."

"Oh, erm, about that... I will be gone for 3 days this time."

I groan and storm out of the kitchen. It drives me crazy when Dad does this. His lawyering business has become more popular, and he's beginning to get more clients from around the world. Of course, all his clients are too lazy to fly to Los Angeles to have a meeting here, so Dad always has to go to wherever they are, leaving me here alone. At least he decided to let me stay with a friend this time.

"Alexandra Marie Coulson! Get back here!"

I ignore him as I slam the door to my bedroom shut and bury myself in the soft sea-green covers of my brown trundle bed. Dad comes in a few minutes later. "Listen," he sighs, "I know my constant traveling is hard on you, Alex, but it's the only source of income we have, and it's a good source. You don't want me to have to pull you out of LAPS, right?" he asks, referring to the Los Angeles Private School.

Emerging from the covers, I say, "No, definitely not. It's just that, things have gotten really hard ever since Mom died, especially since you're always away working. I... I miss her."

Dad hugs me. "I miss her too, but sometimes you just need to get your mind out of the past and look to the future. Could you try doing that for me?"

I feel a tear run down my cheek and try to wipe it off before Dad notices. "Sure."

"Good. I'm going to finish packing. You should start packing for Emily's."

After I give a small nod, Dad gets up and leaves my room. Life really has become an emotional roller coaster ever since Mom died of cancer about a year ago. I've never felt like the same person after having my childhood ripped away from me far too soon. The whole accident with the lightning doesn't really help my situation either.

A jingling sound jolts me out of my depressing thoughts. Larry, our beagle, walks into my room with some bounce in his step. "Hey, boy!" I say, beckoning the 6 year old dog to come. He jumps onto my bed and gets himself comfortable in the quilt I attempted to make a few years ago in a quilting class. I start playing with the electricity in a lightbulb, trying to hold off packing as long as I can.

About a month after Mom died, I was at soccer practice for the LAPS team when a huge thunderstorm rolled in out of nowhere. Everybody was able to run for cover except for me, because I managed to get the shoelace of my cleat caught to a bush. Of course, with my awful luck, the tree under the bush I was stuck to was struck by lightning, knocking me out. At the hospital, the doctors said I got the brunt of the electrocution, and should be lucky to be alive. Most of my hair was fried off in the accident, and it's all grown back in an extremely light blond color, whereas before it was a nice, normal brown. And my eyes. Don't even get me started on my eyes.

Too late. I'm already started on them. They look perfectly blue and normal, until I use my powers. Then, they turn gold. Gold. Normal people's eyes don't turn gold! Oh, right, the powers thing. I guess I should elaborate on that. Apparently, my body absorbed all the electricity from the lightning, converting it to pure bolts of lightning I can shoot out of my hands. Did I mention I figured out how to turn my legs into lightning, giving me the ability to fly? Didn't think so. In the end, I will never be able to achieve that one goal I've unsuccessfully tried shooting for my entire life - being normal. I'm a thirteen year old without a mom, I have super powers only Dad and Emily know about, and my hair is practically white. I busy myself with playing with the electricity from a light bulb and continuing my wishing for normalcy.

AIDEN

"You're crazy!" Lia just told me her plans for getting off the helicarrier for a bit. "How on earth will we steal a Quinjet?"

"Simple," she replies, popping another Cheeto in her mouth. We're in my bedroom in the crew quarters area. "We ask Becca."

I sigh. "This could actually work."

Lia grins in triumph. "Great. We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Woah! Woah! We don't even know where we're going."

"Correction: YOU don't even know where we're going. We're going to Los Angeles!"

"Ok. I'll admit it. This sounds kinda fun, but where will we stay?"

"The Quinjet."

"How will we sleep?"

"Sleeping bags."

"So, we're basically going to go camping in a big city."

"Yep."

"Who else knows about this?"

"Becca. Now stop interrogating me. Are you in or out?"

I pause, knowing we'd be toast if anyone found out about what we're gonna do. Then again, I'll be traveling with a bunch of highly trained teenage assassins, so what could possibly go wrong? "I'm in."

"Fantastic!" Lia squeals. "I'll call Becca."

With that said, she loses herself in her iPhone. I'd always thought that if I would ever have to make any sort of secret mission that involves Quinjets, I would do it with Becca. Even though she's only 16, she's the best pilot I've ever seen, and she's a pretty handy mechanic, too. She helps repair anything broken on the helicarrier. Those talents plus her powers would make her a pretty good field agent, but Becca has always said she feels more at home in a hangar with a bunch of broken Quinjets then out in the Middle East fighting a a group of terrorists.

Oh, right, her powers. 16 years ago, Maria Hill was driving back to her apartment in New York city when she saw a basket sitting on the side of the street. Maria, being her curious self as per usual, got out of the car to see what was in the basket, and found a baby girl inside. Instantly, she fell in love with her and knew she couldn't live her alone on the street. She took her home, and after finding no form of identification on her basket, decided to legally adopt her, giving her the name Rebecca Cyan Hill. Becca had pretty good toddler years, making the helicarrier her second home. It wasn't until she turned 3 when things became, Er... Dark. Maria noticed the color of her eyes begin to change from a cheery green to a purplish goldish color. She also began to notice how rooms Becca were in seemed to either become darker or brighter. Now, Becca has gained the ability to control the darkness and light around her, but nobody knows how.

"Becca says she'll have a Quinjet ready by tomorrow morning," Lia explains after finishing the call with Becca.

"Ok," I yawn, "I'm going to bed now. It's nearly midnight."

Lia glances at the iHome clock perched next to her bed. "Oh, I guess it is. Goodnight."


	4. The Harlem Shake

EMILY

"So... What do you wanna do?" I ask Alex after she's dropped off at my house.

"Dunno. When's Sara coming?" Alex replies. I decided to have the whole friend triangle present.

"Her softball game is running late. She should be here by 7:30. Hmm... I have an idea for what we could do, but it's kinda embarrassing."

Alex smiles. "Spill it."

"I've always wanted to make a Harlem Shake video," I let out quickly, feeling myself blush.

"You. Are. A. Genius!" Alex exclaims, jumping in circles around my living room. "Let's do it!"

We sprint up the stairs and run into my room. While in my walk-in closet trying on crazy costumes together, I hear a familiar voice singsong in the hallway outside my bedroom. "I'm here!"

I immediately recognize the voice. It's Sara. "Come in!" I yell, still in my closet, one foot inside an orange Morphsuit.

Sara walks into my cluttered closet, her short blond air bouncing. I'm fully zipped into the Morphsuit, and Alex is next to me in a shark costume (don't ask why I have it).

"What in the world..." Sara's jaw drops, not exactly sure what we're doing.

"We're going to make a Harlem Shake video!" Alex shouts gleefully.

"I'm in!"

"Ready... Set..."

"Wait!" I interrupt Sara from counting down to the beginning of recording the crazy part of our Harlem Shake.

"What?" Sara turns away from Dummy, who's in charge of holding the camera, in annoyance. It's kinda hard to take her seriously though in her hipster Harry Potter getup.

"Don't you think we need more than 3 people?"

Sara shrugs. "Yeah, but who else would want to do the video with us."

I smile. "One word: Dad."

"C'mon, please do it with us! You can take a break from work!" I'm begging Dad to join our video. He's in the living room with the TV on playing a re-run of the press conference Dad held earlier today to give the public more information about Stark Tower, working on his computer, and eating Papa John's pizza. I dunno how he can do all that at the same time.

"I do like breaks..." he sighs. "Fine. I'll do it, but I don't want to see this all over the Internet."

"It's a deal!" I exclaim, feeling a smile light up my face.

"Oh. My. Gosh," Alex breathes.

"The video..." I start.

"IS PERFECT!" Sara jumps out of the couch we were sharing in Dad's workshop and begins to do an awful happy dance (don't tell her I said that).

We watch the video on my Stark Laptop for the billionth time. Dad's really rocking the Mark VI with a rainbow Afro, and I look pretty great as the awkward one with the orange Morphsuit holding a giant stuffed monkey (I don't really know why i have a giant stuffed monkey...). We have to show this to Dad," I suggest.

"Let's go!" Alex exclaims as she attempts to get out of the sorta too-small shark costume.

BOOM! Why do summer thunder storms always bother to make an appearance when you least want them to? I roll over in bed and look at my NASA space shuttle clock (don't judge). It reads 4:30 AM. Another wave of thunder rattles the house. I crawl over to the foot of my bed with my Stark Phone. Using the glow of the phone's screen as a flashlight, I check on Alex and Sara. They're both sound asleep on the blow-up mattresses Dad helped me set up before they got here. Yet another rumble of thunder makes me jump. I decide I probably won't be able to fall back asleep until the storm passes, so I might as well do something productive.

I creep out of my bedroom, careful not to wake Alex or Sara, and go down to Dad's workshop. In the back corner of the workshop is my area, where Dad lets me plan and create to my heart's content. Even though Dad isn't my actual father, I've still inherited some of his brains thanks to his sister. If it wasn't for my ADHD, I'd probably be in high school by now, but all my teachers don't believe I immediately understand everything they teach, even though I probably understood a concept before it was even taught. Not even my 95+ average in every class will sway them.

Crawling under my desk, I feel the bottom of it looking for the secret compartment I built. The compartment hides some of my most secretive projects from a very snoopy Dad. I find the small button near the back and press it until I hear a small "click". A small metal box slides it of the now open compartment. I re-seal the hiding place, put the box on the table and manage to hit my head on the metal desk while standing up.

I rub the back of my throbbing head, wipe some dust bunnies off my plaid pajama pants and MIT t-shirt, and open the box. It contains the pair of glasses I got a few years ago when I began to lose my eyesight. Now, I can barely see anything more than a foot in front of my face, so I wear contacts (They're the kind I can sleep in. Score!). I unplug my laptop from its charging dock, power it up, then use the small USB connector I installed into my glasses to hook it up to my computer. A file appears on my desktop titled "My Glasses". This is a good sign. My latest upgrades have been successful. I pull up JARVIS' computer files I have stored on my computer, and load them onto my glasses' drive. If these files load correctly, I should be able to have the same displays Dad has in his Iron Man suits on my glasses. About 5 long minutes later, the download finishes. I take out my contacts and place them in their container I brought downstairs with me. Now I'm practically blind. I feel around for my glasses, unplug them (Hehe it's not every day you get to say that), and put them on.

They work. Perfectly. I get up from my desk and walk around Dad's workshop. The glasses' inferface is exactly like the Iron Man suit (Ok, I admit it. I'm speaking from experience, but I only wore a suit once. It was a dare). Everything I look at can immediately be identified thanks to the microscopic camera in the corner of the right lens that took forever to install. I think my best idea was deciding to not install JARVIS' audio files. That AI really knows how to get on my last nerve. "Emily? Is that you?"

The microscopic microphone opposite to the camera (which also took me eons to install) registers the voice as Sara's. I swiftly pull the glasses off my face, which automatically shuts them down, and hide them behind my back. A blurred figure, which I'm assuming to be Sara, reaches the bottom of the stairs. I walk to the door, tripping over a model of the Mark VII's hand randomly laying on the ground, and let Sara into the workshop. "Are you ok?" she immediately asks, noticing me trip.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answer, trying to sound convincing, "I'm just tired."

I dunno why I'm so reluctant to tell Sara about my glasses. I guess I want to show them to Dad first to be sure he's ok with me using them.

"Why are you up so early?" Sara yawns.

"Couldn't sleep with all the thunder, so I decided to do something productive. How did you even figure out I was down here?"

"Alex was snoring my ears off, and when I noticed you weren't in your bed, I went to the only other place you're truly happy in."

I smile. "That was probably the deepest sentence I've ever heard at 6 in the morning."

"Let's just go back to bed."

"Ok."

I'm halfway up the stairs when I realize my contacts are still on my desk and my glasses are still behind my back.


	5. The Flight

BECCA

"Rise and shine."

"I never knew pancakes could talk," I mumble, still halfway asleep and deep in a dream involving breakfast.

"Get up! We have places to go!"

"Shut up, pancake."

"This is stupid." BAM! I feel my wrench slam into my head.

I sit straight up a little too quickly and fall out of the pilot chair in the Quinjet I must've fallen asleep in while doing some routine repairs. The faces of Aiden and Lia with a floating wrench beside her come into my area of vision. "Sheesh," I moan, pulling myself off the hard metal floor of the Quinjet and wiping strands of my long brown hair off my face. "I think I know who woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"Let's just get this jet in the air before anyone wakes up," Lia commands, wrench still floating in the air menacingly.

"Umm actually..." I start.

"Enough talking," Lia cuts me off. "Start it up."

"But..." I haven't finished repairs on this jet yet and was planning on us taking another one.

"Just do it."

"Fine," I give in, "just let me get my backpack. I left it in the hangar."

A few minutes later, everyone's backpacks in hand, I rev the jet up, and we take off.

"Waa hoo!" Lia squeals. "Freedom!"

Aiden is just sitting in a seat nervously tugging at his Lacrosse t-shirt. "So... Now what?"

Lia smiles at Aiden from the co-pilot's seat. "Los Angeles! Surf, fun, and sun!"

I activate the GPS system. "According to this map, we're somewhere over China-"

A voice coming from the communication device interrupts me. "Quinjet number 128. Please return to the helicarrier. You have not been authorized for takeoff. Should you not heed these orders, we will make you a target for our missiles."

Aiden groans. He stomps over to the comm device and kicks it hard with his metal foot. The line dies.

"They'll still be able to track us as long as we have GPS activated," I realize.

"Ok, then. De-activate it," Lia shrugs.

"Let me write down these coordinates quickly so I'll still be able to figure out where we're going," I say as I pull my worn black notebook and a pen out of my sky blue LL Bean backpack.

The Quinjet's radar lights up as I finish frantically scribbling down the numbers. "What's going on?" Lia asks as I suddenly figure out what the flashing on the radar indicates.

"SHIELD wasn't lying about the missiles. There's 2 heading right for us."

"We're toast," Aiden sighs, sinking even deeper into his seat.

"What are we going to do?!" Lia is in full-on panic mode. "We're gonna die!"

"Get a grip!" I shout, slapping her with my notebook. "You and Aiden are highly trained assassins. I can't believe a couple of missiles are gonna faze you."

"But..." Lia stutters, "They're missiles! We're 30,000 feet in the air with nothing but ocean beneath us."

"Since you guys are obviously going to do nothing but freak out," Aiden starts, "I'm going to think of a plan to save us. Oh, wait. Already did. Lia, try using your telekinesis to direct the missiles away from us. Becca, cloak the ship in darkness. That might screw up their censors."

"I've never moved anything going at a high speed with tons of explosives on it before!" Lia cries.

"There's a first time for everything," Aiden retorts. "Now get on it. I'll pilot the plane."

I begin to throw balls of darkness around the plane, the shadows easily flying out of my hands. Glancing at Lia, I notice beads of sweat roll down her black tank top as she focuses all her attention on the missiles heading straight for us. "Dial it down, Becca!" Aiden shows from the cockpit. Whoops. I was so focused on Lia, I didn't realize I was kinda over-doing the shadows. "Sorry," I say sheepishly.

"I got one!" Lia shouts in triumph.

Since the windows show completely nothing thanks to me, I look at the radar. Sure enough, one missile is slowly fading away. "C'mon Lia!" I resort to encouraging Lia since we're obviously good on shadows at the moment.

Lia scrunches her face up in concentration, trying to send this missile down to the murky depths of the Atlantic with its pal. "I-I can't," she suddenly exclaims, then passes out cold on the floor.

I groan. Loudly. I then go to kick my gray Converse against on of the hard metal seats. I curse. Loudly.

"Let's see if we can outrun this fella," Aiden says, his brown eyes flashing with determination.

"How?" I ask, feeling as though we're completely out of hope. I watch helplessly as the missile gets closer and closer to us on the radar.

"Let's fly supersonic."

"Have you ever flown a plane going faster than the speed of sound?"

"Umm... No."

"Thought so. I fly the plane, you get Lia to come to."

"Fine."

With a snap of my fingers, the layers of shadows hiding the Quinjet disappear. I settle myself down in the pilot's chair once Aiden has gotten up then urge the plane to go supersonic. It's not until I have the thing going at nearly 800 miles per hour and breaking the sound barrier do I remember this is why I was repairing the plane in the first place. According to the repair notes I'm only just now happening to inconveniently remember, this jet can't fly at a supersonic rate for over 5 minutes. "Aiden...?" I call him nervously, knowing he'll need to know this information.

"Yea?" he calls from the back where he's attending to a still unconscious Lia.

I tell him the newest problem we're in, and his face immediately pales. "What should we do?" I finish, turning to the cockpit.

"We jump."

I whip my head around back towards him. "Come again?"

"We jump out of the plane right before the missile hits it. Just keep watching that radar. I'll get the parachute packs ready."

"What was that you said about parachutes?" Lia asks, waking up. Aiden catches her up on our plan. "We jump into the ocean!?" Lia screams. "My bag isn't waterproof."

"Mine is," Aiden replies. "I'll put yours and Becca's bags in my bag. Good thing I decided to bring my large backpack."

I continue urging the plane forwards until I feel it begin to slow down."Guys..." I say, interrupting Lia and Aiden's fight about how Aiden's Jordans are "so last year".

Aiden immediately spins around. "I think we should jump now..." Lia suggests.

"No!" Aiden snaps. "But get the hatch open. We can still wait a few more seconds."

"Yeesh," I sigh at Aiden, "what are you waiting for? We're jumping."

The blinking dot of the missile on the radar slowly gets closer. I can see it perfectly when I look out the now-opened hatch.

With that said, I gather my friends together and pull them out the hatch, beginning our free fall into the Pacific Ocean.

**AN: wow! That was fun to write! I'm so happy I have the annoying little intro stuff done with. Please review!**


	6. The Rescue

SARA

KA-BOOM!

I sit straight up in my mattress bed next to Emily's window. "Did anybody else hear that?" I whisper-shout.

Alex and Emily are both sitting up too. "Yeah," Alex replies, "and that definitely wasn't more thunder."

Emily was too busy staring out the window to reply. "What's up?" I ask her.

"Why is there a giant ball of smoke in the sky out there?" she asks nobody in particular.

I look in the direction Emily is looking. Sure enough, there's a huge ball of black smoke surrounded by the partly cloudy sky. "Jarvis!" Emily activates the AI. "I need footage from security camera number 10 from about 5 minutes ago."

"I have it playing on your TV," Jarvis replies.

We look at the small flat screen TV Emily has mounted on the wall opposite her bed. The video shows a low-flying jet over the ocean. A few seconds later, 3 figures of people come out of the plane just as the plane explodes. The figures seem to have parachutes or something, because they drift gently into the ocean. "What if they're still out there?" Alex asks. "We have to help them!"

"Yeah!" I agree. "We can't just leave them out there to drown. Besides, it looks like more storms are coming in."

"Ok," Emily says, "let's go. We can use the jet skis, but we have to be really quiet. Dad has been way too overprotective with me since Vanko. He'll be boiling mad if he finds out I went outside without his permission."

Emily climbs out of her bed then immediately stumbles over her well-worn TOMS. After catching herself, she promptly runs into her chest of drawers. "Uh... Emily?" I ask her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she sighs, "I left my contacts in Dad's workshop last night."

"How are you gonna see?"

After a long pause, Emily goes to her white side table and grabs her old pair of black and silver-framed glasses. "Wow! I haven't seen you wear those since 5th grade!" I notice.

"They'll have to do," she replies.

We all put our shoes on, not wanting to waste any time changing out of our pajamas. Then, we go outside and begin to descend down the cliffside stairs to the cave carved into the side of the cliff where the boating supplies are stored. Emily checks the fuel amounts of the 2 three-seater jet skis, then lowers them into the water. "Umm... Guys?" Alex hesitates while I hop on one ski and Emily gets on another.

"What?" I ask. "Why are you just standing there? We need to help those people!"

"I know," Alex sighs, shuffling her flip-flop clad feet, "but lightning and water don't really go together."

"Ride with me," Emily says firmly. "Trust me, I've been driving one of these for as long as I can remember. You'll be fine."

"Ok," Alex concedes, slowly sitting down behind Emily.

"Let's go!" I say, then urge the jet ski forward.

I go in the direction of the now disappearing ball of smoke with Emily right behind me. About 5 minutes later, I suddenly stop and cut the engine. Emily does the same. "Do you hear that?" I ask Emily, sure I'm hearing shutting in the distance.

Emily pauses, listening. "Yep," she replies. "I think we're getting close."

We continue on, moving slower and paying more attention to the water. I suddenly notice 3 figures about 10 feet away from me flailing around in the water. "I found them!" I shout to Emily, who's a few yards over to my right.

I move quickly over to the people, who turn out to be 2 girls and a boy around our age. "People!" a girl with an Asian complexion shouts happily. "Wait a second! Emily! It's... It's you! What are you doing in the Pacific Ocean at 8 in the morning?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Emily replies.

"Long story," the girl sighs.

"We have time."

"Could we possibly dry off before story time?"

"Sure. We're gonna take you guys back to my house, but you have to be extremely quiet. Dad and Pepper don't know I'm out here."

"Ok."

Alex suddenly starts to wave her hands in the air like some sorta crazy person. "Wait! Wait wait wait wait wait! Emily, how in the world do you know these people?"

Emily and the girl look at each other for a long time, then look back at Alex. "Long story," they say at the same time.

Alex turns to me. I just shrug then say, "Well, are you guys gonna let us rescue you or not?"

"Rescue us," the other girl with long brown hair immediately says, "please."

"Ok," I reply, "get on."

The long-haired girl pulls herself onto my jet ski, her khaki cargo pants soaked, with the scar-faced boy carrying a backpack right behind her. As the boy slowly drags himself onto the jet ski, I notice his left leg is completely made of metal. That kinda creeps me out, but I try my best not to stare. "Oh!" I realize I haven't introduced myself. "The name's Sara."

"Hi!" the girl replies. "I'm Becca, and the cranky head behind me is Aiden."

Aiden manages a small smile, but he seems clearly preoccupied with other thoughts. Once I'm positive everybody's on the jet ski, I turn it on and head towards Stark Mansion, with Emily right behind me. Soon, I see the large white cliffside manor in the distance. "Woah," I hear Becca breathe.

When we reach the dock, I help Becca and Aiden off, then hoist the jet ski out of the water, Emily doing the same thing once she's at the dock as well. "Alrighty," she says, "let's get you guys up to my room to change, then you'll have some explaining to do."

**AN: Sorry for the updating delay. I've been sick :(. Oh! And who's extremely stoked for Iron Man 3?! I know I am! :D**


	7. ANNOUNCEMENT

**Hey ya'll! It's me, DoingitWrite. I have some bad news. Due to the increased craziness of school, I'm gonna have to put this story on hiatus for a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to continue writing soon. Stay tuned for updates!**


	8. Welcome to the States

**AN: Hey guys! After an extremelyplonk and painful hiatus from this story, I'm back! Stay tuned for more chapters to come! Oh, and I finally saw Iron Man 3! It was amazing!**

ELIZA

I've gotta hand it to Coulson; he may be a pain sometimes, but he sure knows what he's doing. SHIELD moved us to a small house that's practically right on the Malibu beach. They got Bruce a job at the local urgent care, and I'll be going to Malibu High School once summer's over.

We've been in the states for a day now, and I've enjoyed every second of it. I originally thought Coulson was an idiot for sending us to live near a huge city, because I thought it would be impossible to blend in here. Turns out I was wrong. It seems like all anyone wants to do here is blend in (unless you're that American pop singer with the name of Lady Gaga). Plus, I've already gotten over the jet lag!

Right now, I'm in my bedroom that has a perfect view of the sea working on unpacking. Instead of painting the bare white walls of the room, I'm covering them in posters of everything I'm obsessed with. I finish tacking up my prized Sherlock poster with Benedict Cumberbatch's signature, then head downstairs to the TV room for a well-deserved break. Bruce and I unpacked the furniture for the TV room first, since it's the room we spend most of our time in.

I grab the remote and turn the TV on. It's playing the local news channel, which is reporting something about some sort of airplane explosion over the ocean near Malibu. Search and rescue teams haven't found anybody in the waters nearby. As I continue to watch the breaking news, my phone begins to buzz in the back pocket of my jeans. I look at the caller ID, of my Nokia smartphone, which says "Unknown name & number". That can only mean one thing. SHIELD finally found my cellphone number. I answer the phone, "What now?"

Coulson's know-it-all voice replies, "Turn on the news."

I glance at the TV, which is still reporting on the plane explosion. Suddenly, everything starts to make sense. "Are you saying that plane is..."

"SHIELD property?" Coulson cuts me off. "We believe so. Some field agents disguised as the coast guard are already out looking for the jet's passengers."

"Who was on the jet? What in the world were they doing in California?"

"Great question. There were 3teenagers."

"Teenagers? What were teenagers doing on a Quinjet?"

"They're all related to some of our top operatives. One of them was Fury's son. He's devastated."

I choke on the Sprite I'm drinking. "Aiden?"

Aiden and I met once, when Coulson first recruited me. He was pretty nice and had the greatest sense of humor. "What do you want from me?" I ask, knowing Coulson probably didn't call me to just have a normal conversation.

"I want you to start looking for the kids on land. Well send you an email of their SHIELD profiles."

"Ok. Where exactly do you want me to start looking?"

"Stark Mansion."


	9. The Hunt

EMILY

I turn my bedroom TV onto the local news after I've changed out of my pajamas and into a gray NASA t-shirt and bright blue Nike shorts. "Hey guys," I say sarcastically. "You're on TV!"

Aiden explained to Alex, Sara, and I what happened to him, Becca and Lia on the plane right when we first reached my room. Becca and Lia walk out of my closet wearing their dry change of clothes that consist of denim shorts and graphic t-shirts with Galaxy right behind them, sniffing their ankles excitedly. Aiden, who was admiring my Pacific Ocean view, plops down angrily on my bed and gives the TV the death stare. "Mom's gonna kill us," Lia sighs.

"Wow, thanks for the great thought," Aiden grumbles. "It's not like your mom is a trained assassin or anything."

I suddenly hear footsteps approaching my door. "Footsteps!" I whisper-shout. "Everyone, hide!"

Becca and Aiden take cover in my cluttered closet. Lia turns invisible, her turquoise v-neck tee being the last part of her to disappear. Alex and Sara jump into their sleeping bags. I quickly turn off the TV. Dad opens my door and walks into my room. "Morning," he yawns.

"I just want to let you know that Pepper just got here with bagels from Panera's," Dad tells us. He suddenly pauses. "I haven't seen you wear those in awhile." He nods at my glasses.

"Oh, Er, these?" I continue to stutter. "It's a long story."

"I have time."

"Well I don't." With that said, I push Dad out of my room and slam and lock the door.

"Was that really necessary?" Sara asks me, emerging from her sleeping bag.

"I-I panicked. Ok?"

Sara thinks for a second. "Jarvis!" she suddenly says. "When somebody gets close to Emily's room again, tell us."

"Yes, Miss Hansen," Jarvis replies.

"Did someone say bagels?" Becca comes out of the closet with Aiden right behind her.

"Yeah," I reply, "I'll go get some. Stay here."

I go downstairs into our large kitchen and find Pepper sitting at the counter, typing away on her MacBook. She hears my footsteps and turns around. "Good morning, cranky."

"Hi. Did Dad tell you what I did?"

"Of course, he did."

"Tell him I'm sorry, I-I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Did you hear the explosion? I saw it on the news. My apartment is too far away from the coast to have heard it though."

I feel my face pale. "Um... Yep."

"The news choppers have been getting on my last nerve. They're just so loud and-" Pepper notices my glasses. "Why are you wearing those?" she asks.

I'm tired of hiding this silly secret. "Where's Dad?"

"Workshop. Why asking?"

"I need him up here. I need to tell you guys something."

ELIZA

This is like some sort of surreal dream that has come to life. I know this is real, because trust me, I've pinched myself who knows how many times. It's just not every day you go ride your bicycle dressed in all black with a Bluetooth in your ear that connects you to a top-secret government agency that's telling you how to break into Iron Man's house. I just want my couch and my Sprite.

Oh, well. Some dreams are meant to die. "Are you there yet?" Maria's voice from the Bluetooth interrupts my thoughts. I'm approaching a large hill with a winding driveway going up it. "I think so."

"Ok. I'm assuming the gate is closed?"

I look at the gate with swirly iron bars. A thick-furred white cat is sitting calmly on one of the white marble columns. "Definitely."

"First things first: you need to knock out the security cameras stationed above the gate."

I see the cameras she's talking about. "Will do."

I transform into the tiger and climb on top of the column, nearly scaring that cat out of its fur in the process. The cat leaps off the column and runs into some bushes. One swat with my large paws knocks the 2 cameras off the column. They fall and shatter in the hard dirt below.

EMILY

I've just finished explaining my glasses concept to Dad and Pepper when Jarvis says, "Sir, there's been a breach in security."

I feel Dad tense up next to me. "Go to your room and stay there with Sara and Alex. I'm going to the workshop. I need to figure out what's going on. Oh, I like what you've done to your glasses, by the way."

"Thanks," I smile. I grab the bag of bagels and head upstairs. I'm not too worried about whatever "security breach" is going on. It's usually just some overly curious paparazzi.

"Special delivery!" I sing, waltzing into my bedroom.

"FOOD!" Lia exclaims.

I put the bag of bagels on my bed, pushing a nosy Galaxy away from it. A cinnamon raisin bagel flies out of the bag and into Lia's hand. She smirks. The rest of us then begin to devour the rest of the bagels. "Your father is approaching," Jarvis announces.

Lia turns invisible, and Aiden and Becca run into my closet again. Dad bursts into my room. "Something weird is going on," he says, out of breath from running from his workshop to my bedroom.

"What?" I ask as I spread cream cheese on a plain bagel.

"A-all my security cameras, they're just... Stopping working. One by one. It's freaking Jarvis' systems out, so I can't run any diagnostics."

I activate the interface in my glasses, which earns a gasp from Sara and Alex, and a small, quickly cut-off gasp from Lia. Error messages immediately begin to flood my vision. "Yup," I sigh, blinking away the interface, "there's something seriously wrong here."

ELIZA

"How many more of these do I have left?" I grunt, destroying a 15th camera hidden in the tree then the connection to Stark Mansion's AI. "What makes you so sure they're even in here?"

"We have our ways," Maria replies into the Bluetooth which stayed connected to my ear after I transformed into a tiger. "You should only have 3 cameras and connection wires left."

EMILY

"Whoever-or-whatever, is breaking the cameras, must also be destroying Jarvis' outside sensors," Dad says, thinking out loud and tugging on his deeply loved ACDC t-shirt. "Let's see what happens if I put the backup servers online." And with that said, Dad rushes out of my room.

Lia reappears, looking confused. "He does that," I sigh.

Aiden and Becca come out of my closet, both holding a half-eaten bagel. "We've gotta figure out what's going on," Aiden suggests. "I'm sick of fleeing to your closet. If I have to look at one more pair of shoe, I think I'll throw up."

"Great idea," I reply, "let's go, but we have to be quiet."

Lia nods, then becomes invisible. "Cheater," Aiden mumbles. Becca steps on his non-metal foot.

We creep down the stairs and go around the kitchen to get to the side yard. A rumble of thunder rolls in the distance. I motion for Alex and Sara to go towards the cliffs, Becca and Lia to stay and search the side yard, while Aiden and I go to the front yard. As Aiden and I begin to descend down our winding driveway with Galaxy hot on our heels, I hear something that sounds a lot like a snarl. Aiden hears it, too. "Was that Galaxy?" he asks.

I glance down at the large Husky, who's cowering next to me. "I don't think so."

We hear the snarling again. It's getting louder. I try to activate the interface on my glasses to identify the sound, but Jarvis' systems must still be down, because the mountains of error messages clutter my vision once again. Galaxy begins to growl, a deep roar that starts in her throat until it turns into a series of frenzied barks. "Chill, girl," I scold Galaxy.

It's that moment when I look into some nearby Azalea bushes and notice the large pair of orange eyes glaring back at me.

ELIZA

"Holy. Cow," I breathe.

"What's wrong?" Maria asks me with a worried tone in her voice.

"I've been spotted!"

"By who?!"

"Aiden."

**AN: It's so great to be working on this again! Many more chapter are coming! Please review! I'd love to hear what you think of the story so far. Oh, who else noticed what Sara's last name was? (;**


	10. Reunion&Sudden Death

AIDEN

"Please tell me those eyes belong to your cat," I beg Emily worriedly.

"Mouse's eyes are green," Emily says slowly, backing away from the bush.

Wait a second. "Those eyes look familiar," I observe, "really, really familiar."

At that moment, a giant Bengal tiger leaps out of the bushes and pins me down. I was aiming to kick it hard in the stomach when the tiger's low growls start to sound like words. "Aiden! It's you! You're alive!"

It's Eliza. Emily is frantically calling Alex, Sara, Lia, and Becca. I try to get her to stop, but Eliza still has me pinned to the ground. "Eliza. You are squishing me to death."

"Whoops, sorry," she says, stepping off me.

Right as she does that, Alex sneaks up behind her and electrocutes her with lightning (the lightning situation was explained to me earlier by Sara). Eliza immediately falls to the ground, unconscious. "Why did you do that?" I yell at Alex.

"It's a tiger!" she exclaims, gold eyes blazing. "What were you expecting me to do, hug it? Besides, I didn't give it enough electricity to kill it or anything, but maybe I should've."

"Don't!," Lia comes beside Alex, with Becca right behind her.

"Why?" Sara shouts.

"She's more than just a tiger," Lia then continues to explain Eliza's story to Emily, Alex, and Sara.

As she begins to do that, I look back down at the unconscious Eliza. I notice a metallic glint coming off of one of her ears. Bending down to get a closer look, I recognize it as one of SHIELD's Bluetooths. I put it close to my ear and hear a frantic saying, "We're bringing in backup. They should be arriving in about 10 minutes."

"Don't get backup!" I shout into the Bluetooth. Everyone turns around and stares at me as if I've lost my mind.

"Aiden?" I can almost imagine the look of complete and utter shock plastered onto 's face. "Call off the backup. Activate the recovery crews," I hear her say to somebody back on the Helicarrier. "You're alive!" she must be talking to me again.

Before I can reply, Lia uses her telekinesis to wrench the Bluetooth out of my hand and smash it against the concrete driveway. "What was that for?" I spin on my metal leg, turning to face a smoldering Lia.

"You know what this means, right?" she asks.

"I can honestly say I have no idea what you're talking about."

"SHIELD knows were we are! They're going to come and tow us back to that flying dungeon!"

"Maybe it's for the best. It's not like we've had any fun here anyways."

"This is the last time we're ever putting Lia in charge of an escape mission," Becca decides. "Besides, I'm kinda missing the repair hangar..." she looks off into the distance with a wistful expression, which earns a serious eye roll from Lia.

I glance down at Eliza, who is beginning to awaken. She slowly opens both big brown eyes and lazily looks around. Much to Galaxy's dislike, Eliza begins to transform into a human once again, the long orange hair shrinking into her body with her sharp claws and large paws. She's still laying on the ground, dressed in a sleeveless SHIELD uniform when she mumbles, "Umm... Guys? I'm still down here."

As Becca helps Eliza up, I hear the rumbling of a helicopter in the distance. Lia hears it too. "Oh, joy," she huffs, "they're coming for us. I'll be packing if you need me."

Lia begins to stomp back towards the house. I exchange looks with Emily, who quickly follows her inside to be sure Lia doesn't do something incredibly stupid (i.e. managing to alert Tony Stark of our presence) amidst her anger. "What in the world were you guys doing alone on a Quinjet?" Eliza jolts me from my worries.

"I still don't really know," I sigh, exasperated. "Lia was unhappy, and we all know how much of a pain she can be when she's unhappy. What are you doing in California?"

"While you guys were busy crashing jets, the Other Guy was having a spazz session in my hometown."

"It appears we've all had our fair share of a bad week," Becca says, rubbing her forehead. "I can't wait to get home."

"Same here," Eliza and I say simultaneously.

BECCA

It's been a week since the Quinjet incident, and let me just say once again how great it is to be back on the Helicarrier. The helicopter that took us back to the ship last week landed a couple miles down the beach from Stark Mansion, so I'm pretty sure Emily's dad never even knew we were there. I mean, sure, we were in a boatload of trouble when we first got back, but Aiden and I managed to get off the hook, while Lia has been sentenced to extra training with Agent Barton, who's rumored to be the toughest trainer on the ship.

I'm in the repair hangar, as per usual, changing out the oil in a few helicopters, when Director Fury's voice blares over the PA system, "Prepare for descent into the Pacific Ocean. Secure all aircraft and be ready for a possible evacuation of all personnel."

That's odd. The Helicarrier rarely stops flying unless there's a serious mechanical/weather issue. And what was Fury talking about when he mentioned something about a possible evacuation? I quickily finish changing the oil on the helicopter I was in the middle of working on, then rush to the Helicarrier's control room, which takes awhile due to the repair hangar being on the completely opposite side of where I need to be.

Once I finally get there, I find Fury, Mom, and all the other top agents surrounding the long glass conference table, quietly discussing something. "What's going on?" I pant.

Mom turns around and notices me. "See for yourself," she replies.

I follow her down some stairs to the computers. She stops at one with the radar of the coast of southern California (where the Helicarrier has been stationed) pulled up on it. It looks as though the Helicarrier is about to fly into a large hurricane, the yellows and reds of the radar far outweighing the blues and greens. "A hurricane?" I exclaim. "Doesn't the National Weather Service have drones that can detect these earlier now?"

"Yes, they do," Mom sighs, "which is why this is such a problem. Other than some normal scattered thunderstorms, they haven't detected anything out of the ordinary until now. This storm only started forming about 15 minutes ago and has already reached full Category 5 strength."

"Can we outrun it?" I ask, knowing this ship is perfectly capable of doing so.

"No. It's moving way too fast. Too fast for any normal hurricane to be moving at."

The control room lurches as the engines begin to shut down for our descent into the ocean. I look out the large floor-to-ceiling windows and see the large, angry storm in the distance. The PA system blares to life once again, "Rebecca Hill, you're needed on the tarmac."

I turn to Mom, who gives me an encouraging nod, then run outside. By now, the Helicarrier has landed safely in the ocean amongst sheets of rain. A flight mechanic standing near a Quinjet waves me over. "What's the problem?" I yell over the wind and rain.

"There's something wrong with this jet's attachment hooks," the shaggy-haired man explains, pointing to one of the hooks that attach to the Helicarrier's tethers to keep the jet from sliding off the ship. "They won't unlock."

I look all over the hook he pointed to, going through my usual though process when trying to figure out what's wrong with a piece of machinery. "Have you tried oil?" I ask.

"Of course. I've tried just about every possible way to get the thing open without breaking it."

"In that case, breaking it open then chaining it back together may be our only option. I need a crowbar."

The mechanic nods, then scurries inside to find one. As the rain dies down a little bit, I walk to the edge of the ship to watch the the approaching storm, lightning bolts dancing throughout the not-so-distant clouds. Suddenly, the rain and wind begin to pick up again. The mix feels like needles against my face. A large waterspout appears in the distance. I try to back away from the edge, but the wind keeps on pushing me forward. Shouting for help does me no good, since the wind only carries my voice away. I trip on a drain on the tarmac, and end up falling into the ocean, which is shockingly cold. "Help me! I've fallen overboard!" the screaming is no use. Nobody can hear me.

I grip the concrete ledge of the ship and feel my way to the maintenance ladder. As I begin to pull myself up, a large wave washes against the side of the ship, pulling me with it. The current continues to move my away from the ship and towards the looming waterspout. I struggle against the current, remembering my training, and try to swim away, but it's no use. The current is strong, and the ship is only a small dot on the horizon now. I hear the roaring of the waterspout, which is growing louder and louder, and give up swimming.

I never thought this would be how I die.


	11. Agent Overboard&A New World

**AN****: Wow, 2 chapters in 1 day! I'm pretty proud of myself :)** **Anywho, please please please review! You have no idea how much they mean to me! Have fun reading! You're in for a treat in this chapter!**

LIA

"We have an agent overboard! I repeat - agent overboard! All agents please report to the East tarmac."

Mom's voice wakes me up from my much needed nap in my bedroom. finally decided to give me the day off after I nearly twisted my ankle on the obstacle course he made me go through yesterday. I jump out of my bed and grab the first set of t-shirt and shorts I can find in my small and cluttered closet. Without bothering to put shoes on, I sprint down to the tarmac, happy some good sleep seems to have healed my ankle.

As I step outside, the bright sun blinds me and not a cloud is in the sky, which is strange, since I'm nearly positive a clap of thunder woke me a little bit from my sleep about 30 minutes ago. I jog over to a group of agents clustered around the edge of the ship. "Who's overboard?" I ask , who's standing closest to the edge.

She turns to me with tears in her eyes. "My daughter."

BECCA

I feel cold stone ground beneath me. Well, actually, I feel cold all around me. Wherever I am seriously needs a space heater. Voices that are speaking languages I've never heard of surround me. Slowly, I open my eyes and find myself in a dark cave, black SHIELD tank top, jeans, and Converse completely dry. My entire body is aching after the failed fight against the ocean's strong current. A group of disturbing alien-like creatures with dark blue skin and red eyes are circled around me. Yup. It's official. I'm dead.

"Move out of the way, you pitiful excuses for Frost Giants."

Finally. Someone who speaks a real language. The man pushes the what I am assuming to be Frost Giants out of the way and steps to the front of the blue peoples' small circle. He is dressed in green with golden armor. His hair is slick and black, and is nearly as untamed as the look in his green eyes. "Why hello, Nótt," he smiles a "I know more stuff than you" smile, "long time no see."

I shake my head, unable to believe what I just heard. "What did you just call me?" I ask.

"Nótt," he replies simply, then holds out a hand to help me stand up as the Frost Giants, looking bored, wander out of the cave.

I push his hand away, standing up myself, hoping the man doesn't notice how sore I am. "Nótt... as in the Norwegian goddess of night?" I guess, remembering some of my history lessons when Mom home-schooled me.

"Of course!" he exclaims, as if this should be obvious.

"I am most definitely dead," I say to nobody in particular.

"You are most definitely not," the man replies.

"Ok then..." I sigh, "I have some questions for you."

"And I have some answers."

I take a deep breath. "Where am I? Why am I not dead? What are Frost Giants? Who are you and why are you calling me Nótt?"

"So many questions for such a small girl," the man flashes that know-it-all smile again. "Why don't we go somewhere comfortable and sort this out?"

He begins to walk out of the cave, expecting me to follow him. For a moment, I seriously consider turning around and running, but then I remember there's nothing but a cave behind me. Besides, if things could possibly go any more downhill from here, I have my SHIELD training... and my powers. I follow the man out of the cave. Here, outdoors is just as dark as in. The sky is a deep purplish black color... it kinda looks like a bruise. The ground is nothing but stone, and the homes of these Frost Giants appear to be black-stoned caves similar to the one I woke up in. We walk towards a large rock formation, where the man stops at the entrance to it, which are 2 large bruise-colored double doors. "Welcome to my humble abode," he gives me that smile again, which is seriously starting to freak me out, then pushes the doors open.

The room we walk into is nothing like what you'd expect it to be. Its walls appear to be made completely of gold, with a large staircase winding up them. A huge jeweled chandelier that appears to be floating in mid-air is lighting the area. In the center of the cavernous room are 2 plush red couches. The man strides over to one of them and sits down, then gestures for me to do the same. I tentatively take the couch across from him then say, "Ok. Let's get to business."

"Yes, yes, of course," the man replies, "let's begin. You have been transported from Midgard-or what humans call Earth-to my home, Jotunheim, thanks to the makeshift Bifrost I conjured in that cave. Please excuse the nasty storm, it's a, side effect, for lack of a better word, of my homemade Bifrost. The Frost Giants are the citizens of this miserable excuse for a planet, and since I killed their last king, I've become their leader. My name is Loki Laufeyson, and you are my baby sister."


	12. A Crazy Idea&Past Revealed

EMILY

"Miss Stark, Aiden Fury is trying to contact you."

I'm in my bedroom trying to fix some glitches on my glasses.

"Direct him to my cell phone," I tell Jarvis, who Dad finally managed to fix after the incident with Eliza. Dad thinks some squirrels just decided they were hungry and wanted to eat the security cameras, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't know about some house guests I had over (what made him suspect squirrels, I don't know, but I'm not questioning it).

I answer my iPhone 6 (yes. you heard me right. iPhone. 6.) and plop down on my fluffy blue beanbag. "How did you get my phone number?" I ask Aiden.

"Dude, this is SHIELD," Aiden laughs. "We know everything."

"Ok, ok. Do you have any specific reason for finding my phone number? Or is this just something you do in your free time?"

"No. I have a reason. Have you happened to see Becca around recently?"

"Nope. Why asking?"

"She's fallen overboard off the Helicarrier when we landed in the ocean during that hurricane, and now nobody can find her. We have search-and rescue boats and scuba-divers out in a 50-mile radius of the ship, but we're about ready to give up."

"You can't give up!" I really liked Becca even though I'd only met her once. "What can I do to help?"

"I don't really know," I can practically feel the stress in Aiden's voice.

An idea suddenly hits me. "Hey," I say slowly, "guess what I have that you don't?"

"Umm... a dog?"

"No. You need Jarvis!"

"What could Jarvis possibly do?"

"He can control things."

"Such as..."

"Do I really need to explain this all to you? Sheesh. Lia was right when she said you were a little... slow."

"Just tell me!"

I feel a smile forming on my lips. "Jarvis can control the Iron Man suits."

BECCA

"Ok, let me get this straight. I'm Odin's daughter, and your adopted sister, which makes me a Norwegian goddess from Discard-"

"Asgard," Loki corrects me.

"Whatever. Then I was stolen as a baby by rebellious aliens called Safaris-"

"Chutari," Loki corrects me again.

"Gosh sorry. So, the... aliens... used the Bifrost to send me to Earth, and I guess I know the rest of the story."

"Finally! I never imagined it would take you so long to figure this out."

I shift on the couch. "So, why - after all these years, did you decide to find me?"

"We've always been searching for you, but after the Chutari sent you to Midgard, you became mortal. Trying to find one certain mortal out of 7 billion became quite perplexing."

"How did you finally find me?"

"I have been monitoring Midgardian newspapers for a long time now, and that aeroplane wreck you pulled off a week ago most definitely caught my eye. I began to search for you more around the area of the crash, and there you were! Hiding on a large flying boat."

"I wouldn't exactly consider it 'hiding' as much as it was 'living' on the Helicarrier."

"To be honest with you, I do not care."

I roll my eyes. "So... you found me. Now what?"

Loki chuckles. "Ahh, yes. Now for the hard part. As of now, you are my prisoner."


	13. Mark 25&Sulking

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay in between posting chapters! I was crazy buzy with finals, then a family vacation. I wrote tons during that time period, so be prepared for even more!**

EMILY

After quickly throwing on some denim shirts and a shirt I tye-dyed Iast spring, I answer the front door and find an annoyed-looking Sara. "What is important enough for me to miss my marathon?" she asks.

"Becca's disappeared," I reply, leaning in the doorway, "and we're going to help find her."

Sara is immediately taken out of her funk. "What can we do?"

I smile. "We're going to borrow one of the Iron Man suits."

Sara's jaw nearly drops to the floor. "How?"

"Simple. Go to Dad's workshop, and take a suit."

"Won't your Dad notice?"

"He's stuck in meetings for the tower all day in New York City." I explain, referring to the Stark Tower plans.

"What about Pepper?"

"She's taking some time off work to visit her sister. Now stop stalling and follow me."

I lead Sara down to the entrance of Dad's workshop, and enter my code at the door that lets us inside. "How are you even gonna fit in one of those suits?" Sara asks, walking over to Dad's suit display. "Remember how uncomfortable you were last time?" she refers to that dare I accepted.

"How could I forget," I grumble. "Besides, I won't be in one of these suits."

Sara spins around in her black Nike sneakers. "How?"

"There's a different suit."

"Would it kill you to stop being so cryptic?"

"Ok! Ok! I'll show it to you. Jarvis, activate the Mark 2.5 please," I ask, stepping over to the spot on the floor where Dad usually puts on one if his suits.

I watch Sara's mouth nearly drop to the ground in shock as robotic arms rise out of the floor and help me put on my white, blue, and gold suit. "I thought your dad said he was never gonna make you a suit!" she exclaims.

"I know," I reply, pushing away the robotic arm with the helmet so I can talk more clearly, "so I made my own. This was supposed to be the Mark 3, but after it got too glitchy, Dad decided to scrap it and start over. I saved it and rebuilt it specially for me without him finding out."

"Since you have your very own suit, why do you need me?" Sara asks.

"Well, this is actually the first time I've ever worn this suit, and I don't think all of Jarvis' information has been wirelessly downloaded to it. Until it is, you're on computer duty," I explain, walking over to Dad's desk with a tower of computers on it.

"What do I do?" Sara asks, sitting down in this cushioned chair in front of the computers.

"Oh, you know, watch the skies, be sure my Dad doesn't find out what we're doing," I say as I pull up the Mark 2.5's software on the computer. "The communication line should be working, so we can stay in touch."

"Ok," Sara replies slowly as she looks at all the programs on the Mark 2.5

I'm about to leave when I remember something. "If you get seriously confused, just ask Jarvis for help," I explain as I pull my hair into a messy bun so it'll fit better under the helmet. "Also, tell me when the software is completely loaded onto my suit."

"I'll try to remember all this," Sara sighs, "but no promises."

I smile. "Bye!" I exclaim as I grab my helmet from one of the robotic arms then rocket out of the house.

BECCA

I knew that Loki dude was up to no good. He just trapped me in one of the abandoned Frost-Giant caves so he could "take over Asgard without my interfering". To be quite honest, I could care less about that place. Death is starting to seem like a better option then this miserable excuse for a planet. There are absolutely no ways to escape. Trust me, I've looked. I start to pace around the cold, dark cave, and stop at its entrance, where tangles of stone were enchanted to become a cage-like door. Large groups of Frost Giants are congregating outside. All of them appear to be dressed in some sort of battle armor.

"This is so stupid!" I exclaim to nobody in particular. I go to the very back of the cave, then sit down on the hard rock floor to rethink my life.


	14. Formation&Living Arrangements&Backup

AIDEN

"Scan complete. No life forms detected," the obnoxious computer-generated voice tells me for the umpteenth time.

I groan loudly, then slam my face into my hands. For about 2 hours now, I've been using one of SHIELD's drones to find any evidence of Becca in the deep, murky Pacific Ocean. So far, I haven't had any luck finding her. I'm about to Er up and storm to my sleeping quarters when my cellphone starts to ring. I answer it with my Bluetooth. Emily starts talking excitedly talking before I've even said hello, "I think I found something."

This makes me sit up straighter in my chair. I feel my metal leg begin to heat up through my jeans. It's a glitch that happens to it when I get really nervous or excited. "Have you found Becca?"

"No, but I think this has something to do with where she's gone. I'm emailing you a picture of what I've found right now."

"Ok, great. Wait, how did you get my email?"

"You should never underestimate a Stark," I hear a smile in her voice.

The email icon on my computer starts flashing. I open the new email from Emily and see some sort of odd circular formation with strange swirly designs. The picture looks like it was taken from the bottom of the ocean.

"Where exactly are you?" I ask Emily slowly.

"My coordinates are attached to the email."

I print out a picture of the strange formation, then scroll down in the email to get Emily's coordinates. "I'll be there as soon as possible," I tell Emily.

"Ok," she replies, then hangs up.

I grab the picture off the printer and write down Emily's coordinates with an ink pen, then rush out of the control room to find Lia. We have some rescuing to do.

LIA

This. Is. So. Boring.

I'm sitting in the Helicarrier's security center, going through old security camera footage from when Becca fell. Mom says there may be clues as to where she went in the videos, but I just think she's trying to keep me from getting in the way of any real search-and-rescue operation going on. The metal door to the room suddenly flies open, which scares me to death. I telepathically lift up the chair I was sitting in in case I need some self-defense.

Aiden steps inside and immediately holds his hands up in surrender when he notices the chair I'm holding up, which I immediately drop. "Why did you find it necessary to nearly give me a heart attack?" I ask, annoyed.

"Why are you so jumpy?" Aiden shoots back.

I shrug. "What are you doing here?" I continue to question him.

"I asked Emily to help us find Becca. She thinks she's found something."

"Becca!?"

"Nope. This." Aiden gets a folded piece of paper out of his back jean pocket and hands it to me.

I see a strange circular design that looks as if it was burnt into the ground. "Is this underwater?" I ask.

"Apparently. Emily thinks this might have something to o with Becca she wants us to come check it out with her."

"I like the sound of that! I'll do anything to stop going through useless security footage."

"Awesome! Let's get a submarine!"

BECCA

I am so stupid. Why am I just sitting here sulking when I have all the powers of an alleged Norwegian goddess? I quietly walk back to the front of the cave, hoping the ever-growing groups of Frost Giant soldiers don't notice me. Gathering all the strength I have, I summon a darkness even darker than this miserable planet. The shadows seep through my hands and surround the unsuspecting Frost Giants. I hear their panicked shouts but ignore them as I grab a sharp stone off the ground and begin to hack away at the tangled stone branches holding me captive. My hand becomes sore and raw from the hard stone, but I continue to hack away.

Suddenly, a bright flash of blue wipes away my shadows. Loki appears in front of the cave I'm trapped in. I immediately drop the stone. "Leaving so soon?" Loki asks me tauntingly.

"You can't trap me here forever," I practically spit the words.

"I have noticed that, which is why we will have to find you some," he pauses, "alternative living arrangements."

SARA

"According to this computer, Jarvis should be fully loaded onto your suit now," I tell Emily.

"Thanks!" Emily replies through the video chat we're connected to.

"I'm assuming you don't need me anymore?"

"Don't disconnect! I like the company."

"Ok. Now what?" I ask, pulling my short blonde hair into a stubby ponytail.

"We wait for the backup."


	15. Submarine&Another Disappearance

LIA

"How are we supposed to take this without getting missiles fired at us again?" Aiden asks a great question as we get into an empty submarine. Thankfully, the Helicarrier is still a boat

"Simple," I reply, adjusting the SHIELD wetsuit we're both wearing, "we write a note."

"And you seriously think they're gonna read the note?"

"I guess we'll just have to find out." With that said, Lia uses her telekinesis to grab the nearest pen and paper and writes a note, which she leaves next to the submarine.

"Let's go!" she exclaims, turning on the submarine. I'm starting to regret letting Lia drive.

EMILY

More dark clouds are forming in the distance. "Call Aiden," I tell Jarvis as I hover in midair, watching them grow larger.

He picks up after 1 ring. "We're almost there," he says.

"You guys need to hurry," I tell him as I pull up a radar of the area, "another storm is coming, and it's looking as bad as the last one."

"We can tell thanks to our radar spazzing. The GPS says we should find you any second now."

I dive into the water and see a black shadow in the distance. "I think I see you," I say.

"And I most definitely see you. Is that one of your Dad's suits?"

"Nope! I made it for me out of a suit Dad scrapped," I feel my chest nearly burst with pride since so many people are complimenting the suit I spent so many secret painstaking hours building.

The sleek black submarine branded with the SHIELD logo comes to a halt about a yard away from me. A few minutes later, Lia and Aiden both emerge in scuba gear. I quickly hack my way onto their communication systems so I can still talk to them. "Woah!" I hear Lia exclaim. "That's quite the circle you found."

"Yeah," I reply, "even though it probably has nothing to do with Becca, it's still pretty cool."

Aiden was about to say something when we feel the currents shift around us. We start to get pulled towards the circle. "What's going on?" Lia frantically screams.

"Emily?" Sara interrupts my thoughts. "Have you checked out the radar? Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"I-I have no idea," I reply to both Lia and Saraas I struggle against the current that's growing so strong it's overwhelming my iron suit. "Grab my legs," I tell them, thinking of a last-ditch idea to possibly escape the currents.

They both immediately latch onto my gleaming white metal legs as I activate my boosters to go at 100%. We manage to break free of the ocean only to be faced with a giant waterspout. "This is exactly what happened when Becca disappeared!" I hear Aiden exclaim.

I hear staticky, frantic-sounding voice coming from my comms system. It's supposed to be Sara, but I can't hear a single word she's saying. "I'm going back underwater!" I tell Aiden and Lia as I cut off the boosters.

We plunge back into the water. I try to keep Lia and Aiden near my line of vision, since I know they're weaker with only some scuba gear. A bright flash off to my right distracts me. "Did anybody else see that?" Aiden shouts.

"Yeah," Lia replies, "I think it's coming from the circle."

I follow Aiden and Lia, who are succumbing to the currents, so they can get a closer look at the circle. "It's glowing!" I practically shout as my helmet's interface goes into sensory overload.

The elaborate designs on the circle are turning a bright gold color. They then begin to glow. I see some sort of vortex about 100 feet behind the circle. "It's the waterspout!" Lia shrieks.

Before I can reply, I feel myself get whipped into the vortex's hold. It slowly rips parts of the suit off my body. A blinding pain erupts in my left arm, then everything goes black.


	16. Panic&Cold&Bonding

SARA

"Emily?" I say slowly trying not to panic when our comm line cut off. "Emily!?" I begin to feel more frantic as I yelp her name again, which scares Mouse, who was sitting on top of a nearby work bench. The computers monitoring the Mark 2.5's functions are all shutting down!

I go into full-on panic mode and do the first thing my mind thinks of - grab the nearest phone and call Alex. "Hello?" she answers after I've called her on my cell phone.

I immediately launch into an explanation about what's going on. After a long silence, she finally says, "I'll be right there with some help."

"Ok," I shakily reply, then hang up.

How am I supposed to explain this to ? Maybe it would be best to not. Oh well. I'll worry about that when the time comes.

BECCA

I feel... Cold. Ice seems to be surrounding my body, chilling me to the bone. I want to scream, but I can't move my mouth. I can't move a single part of my body. The stone chains around my wrists are cutting into my flesh. I'm doing everything I can to not fall unconscious into that deep, dark abyss.

ALEX

I'm putting things in my old beaded satchel I think I'll need for the rescue mission when Dad walks into my room. "What are you doing?" he asks me, eyeing the satchel.

"I-Er was gonna go to the beach with Sara," I lie.

He nods. "Before you go, I need to tell you something."

He sits down in one of the turquoise and brown chairs next to my window. I slowly settle on my bed, not sure what he's about to say. "I-" Dad sighs loudly, "I am not actually a lawyer."

I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "I am actually... Nothing close to a lawyer," Dad continues.

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"I am one of the head agents for a top-secret defense division of the United States called-"

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, SHIELD for short?" I guess.

"Yes, exactly," he stops as a look of surprise appears on his face. "How did you know that?"

"Luck?" I squeak, knowing I'm in huge trouble now for already knowing of the agency's existence. "But I didn't know you worked there," I feel my voice grow stronger. "It all makes sense now!" I exclaim. "The constant 'business trips' - those were actually missions!"

"Wait!" Dad stands up. "Before we go any farther with this conversation, you have to tell me how in the world you found out about SHIELD!"

I sigh and decide to spill the beans. "Emily, Sara and I helped rescue Becca, Aiden and Lia."

Dad exhales loudly then asks, "Do you think anybody else saw you guys help them?"

"Yes," I reply as Dad's face pales, "Emily's pets and this girl who was half-tiger who also works for SHIELD."

That seems to help Dad regain his composure. "Good," is all he says.

I decide to get back to the main topic. "Why, after all these years, do you choose to tell me about this now?"

I know my Dad. Everything he does is done with care and thought, so there has to be a reason he's chosen now to tell me all this. "I need your help," he begins, but stops talking when his old flip phone (I've been trying to convince him to get an iPhone for years) starts ringing. He looks at the caller ID and says to me, "One second, I need to take this."

Dad walks out of my room and into the hallway. I sit next to my door to eavesdrop. "Hello? Yes. I was actually in the middle of telling her when you called," is what Dad's conversation starts out as. There's a long pause then, "You have got to be kidding me. Ok. Let me finish talking to her first. I'll be there as soon as possible."

I leap back onto my bed so Dad will know I wasn't eavesdropping. "I know you were listening to me," he says as he walks back into my room.

I open my mouth to speak, but Dad continues talking before I can say anything, "And to answer what's probably your next question - yes. I was being contacted by SHIELD, who now needs your help more than ever."

"I knew you weren't telling me all this because you were trying to be fatherly," I grumble.

Dad stares at me for a second, then gives me a giant bear hug like what he used to do when I was a toddler. "You have to understand that I've kept this a secret because I love you," he tells me while we're still hugging. "I didn't want you to have to worry about whether or not I'll return home alive after a mission. It's not the kind of mental pressure you deserve, especially after Rachel died," he explains, referring to Mom. "I'm so sorry."

"I forgive you," I say into Dad's shoulder. After a few silent minutes of hugging, I pull away and say, "Now what do you need my help with?"

He sighs then says, "I'm assuming you heard that big thunderstorm earlier today?"

I suddenly realize I might know what he's talking about. "Could you possibly be talking about Becca's disappearance?" I ask.

Dad's face pales for a second time. "I have been on over 30 missions involving terrorist rings, spies, and mutants, but this is the most freaked out I have ever been. How in the world did you know that!?"

I have got to stop talking so much. Well, there's no way to backpedal from this one, so I might as well tell him. "Aiden told Emily who told Sara because Emily wanted to help with Aiden who also told Lia so they both came and Sara monitored them but then she lost contact with them so she called me," I gasp, saying everything in one "sentence".

Dad stares at me like I've lost my mind. "Ok," he says slowly, "so this means you weren't actually going to the beach."

"No," I sigh, "I was going to find Eliza's house and ask her for help."

"Oh!" Dad suddenly seems happier. "In that case, go on ahead!"

I smile as I pull on my blue Nike sneakers and shoulder my satchel. Dad grabs my shoulder before I can leave my room and spins me around. He hands me a sheet of paper with an address and a Bluetooth. "This is the address to Eliza's house, and the Bluetooth will help me keep in touch with you. I'll be at headquarters if you need me."

With that said, we hug one last time, then I leave our apartment as a flying bolt of lightning.

**AN: Wow, 2 chapters in 1 day! I've finally gotten back into this story again. Thanks for all the positive reviews! Please keep them coming!**


	17. Rainbow Road&Brownies and Custard

**AN: This story has reached its 17th chapter, but only has 5 reviews. I've begun to wonder if anyone is even reading this story. Don't get me wrong, the reviews I have gotten are extremely helpful and positive, but still, I'm not sure if continuing this story is totally worth it if it's going to continue to receive such little response. Ok, enough of my worrying. Let's continue to follow the story of some Not-So-Normal Teenagers!**

LIA

"I'm ok!" I shoot up from where I was laying facedown on the ground.

"At least someone is," Aiden sits up, groaning and rubbing his head.

I look at Emily, who has bare patches of skin showing along with her iron suit. I'm no good at designing weapons and such, but I'm pretty sure that's not how her suit is supposed to look. She makes a small noise then rips off her helmet's faceplate. "That sucked!" she exclaims with a hiss of pain.

It looks like the armor on her left arm folded in on itself and cut Emily's skin. "That doesn't look good," I point out.

Aiden gives me one of his "thank you, Captain Obvious" looks then begins to take in our surroundings. I do the same thing and nearly squeal with fear when I realize we're on a rainbow bridge of some sort. "Am I the only person who feels like we're stuck on the Rainbow Road level of Mario Kart?" Aiden asks.

I take in our surroundings and start to think the same thing. We appear to be on a rainbow bridge with an angry ocean beneath us. The edge we're closer to seems to have been shattered. "Maybe if we go this way we'll figure out where we are," Aiden suggests, pointing in the direction the bridge hasn't fallen apart.

"Ok. Help me with Emily. She's barely conscious," I tell him, standing up and stretching my bruised and battered body.

Aiden stands up and immediately crumples to the ground. "Now what?" I ask, exasperated.

"My-my leg," Aiden stutters, then disconnects the leg from his body. It looks nothing like the high-tech engineering milestone Aiden used to be wearing. Now, it just looks like a piece of metal that was caught in a tornado or something.

"Great, now I have an unconscious metal girl and an immobile nerd to worry about," I scoff, annoyed.

"Can't you use telekinesis to carry us?" Aiden asks as he begins to sort out the twisted wires on his leg.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times!" I huff. "I can't perform telekinesis on people!"

"Great," he says with sarcasm. "Now what?"

I look around one last time then decide, "Stay with Emily and try to stop her bleeding. I'm gonna go find help."

"Wow," Aiden laughs, "look who's finally taking this seriously!"

I use telekinesis and whack Aiden in the head with the metal leg he's holding. "And that's for being a jerk," I declare with a smile, then turn around and start walking down the rainbow bridge as I hum songs from the Wizard of Oz.

ALEX

I look at the address Dad wrote for me one last time before I knock on the door of the cozy looking pale blue beach house. A man with messy grayish hair and a neatly buttoned dress shirt answers. "Hello," I say sheepishly. I'm always really shy around new people, "are you ?"

"Yeah," he lets out a heavy sigh, "are you here to take me captive now?"

I give him a weird look then say, "I'm only 13! It's a miracle I can catch my dog at the beach after we let him off the leash!"

"Sorry," he sighs again and rubs his forehead, "I've had a long day, and the SHIELD logo on that sheet of paper you're holding set me off."

"It's fine," I reply with a smile. "I'm actually looking for Eliza."

"Ok," he returns the smile, "come on inside. I'll get her."

I follow the doctor into the house. He shows me the living room then goes upstairs to find Eliza. I make myself comfortable on a red couch. and Eliza come back downstairs together a few minutes later. "I found her still sound asleep in her room," chuckles.

"You do know it's 1 in the afternoon, right?" I laugh at Eliza's serious bed head.

"I was up until 3 in the morning enjoying my marathon, thank you very much," Eliza says with a sleepy grin.

"Well wake up, because I have a job for you."

Eliza yawns, nowhere close to waking up, then sits on the cushioned wicker chair across from me. "What?"

I explain the current situation to Eliza and Banner, whose eyes flash green when I say just how many kids have disappeared in such little time. "What can we do to help?" the now wide-awake Eliza asks.

"SHIELD wants you and I to find the exact place they disappeared and take pictures for them to study," I say, repeating what Dad told me to say while I was flying here, "and , you're wanted at the SHIELD research facility in New Mexico. They want you to help analyze the weird weather."

"Or they want to analyze me," the doctor says dejectedly, which earns the death stare from Eliza.

"Stop worrying so much!" she exclaims. "SHIELD has been on our side from the beginning. Why would they turn on us now?"

"I imagine those goons would do anything to get a government paycheck."

"You don't mean that," Eliza turns to me. "We'll do it. I'm going to get dressed now, if you don't mind."

Banner follows Eliza up the stairs as he lists everything that could possibly go wrong. I get my the contents of my satchel organized as I wait for Eliza. She comes back down not too long later, dressed in a Queen t-shirt, denim shorts, and brown combat boots, which is a stark contrast to my red plaid tank top and khaki shorts. "Let's go save some kids!" she exclaims dramatically.

I roll my eyes with a smile. "Is the grump going to follow SHIELD's orders?" I ask, referring to Banner.

"Hopefully. I told him I'd make brownies and custard if he'd do it."

"Brownies and custard?"

"Yeah. It's the only dessert I can make without catching the bloody kitchen on fire. Bruce absolutely loves it, but I only make it when I need to bribe him with it."

"Smart. Now that we've gotten that taken care of, let's go."


	18. Muscle Man&Sara the Encyclopedia&Frigga

**AN: Special thanks to Avengerlicious for keeping my faith in this story alive. Here's a really long update as a token of my graditude!**

LIA

THERE IS A BODYBUILDER DRESSED IN TINFOIL WITH A GIANT MALLET AND GIRL HAIR STANDING A FEW FEET AWAY FROM ME.

My training has never taught me what to do if I ever get in this situation, so I just turn invisible and hope he didn't notice me. I've barely walked 50 feet when I noticed him. The man is walking down the rainbow bridge towards Aiden and Emily. Somehow, I need to get back to them before he does. I do the first thing I think of, which is to run. My one problem is the amount of noise I make when I run thanks to my clumsy self and big feet. The giant man hears me, and starts to sprint in my direction. He then spins his mallet and chucks it at my face!

I duck with barely any time to spare. The mallet whizzes past my head with a crazy amount of force. Woah, this guy is strong. I guess this means it's time to pull out my best weapon: talking people's ears off. "Dude!" I shout as I turn visible. "Is that a nice way to treat a person who's done no harm to you? I don't think so!"

Mister Muscle Man obviously wasn't expecting anybody to appear from where he just threw his mallet thanks to the telltale paling of his face. "What?" I ask him tauntingly. "Never seen a disappearing act before?"

"What kind of dark magic is this?" Muscle Man asks in a deep voice.

"It's called 'Super-Soldier Serum: Phase 2', thank you very much."

Muscle Man must be ready for me to shut up, because he growls and flexes his hand, which sends that mallet whizzing back towards him. I try to use my telekinesis to stop it in midair, but I can't! There's something about the mallet that's keeping me from connecting with it. What that something is-I have no idea, but what I do know is that Muscle Man might actually be a pretty powerful dude. He raises the mallet up in the air. Suddenly, the thing's surrounded by lightning! Muscle Man tries to redirect the lightning at my face, but luckily I'm able to use telekinesis on it, which sends the electricity flying over my shoulder.

"Muscle Man!" I shout. "Stop trying to kill me! I swear! We come in peace."

The dude immediately drops the hammer. "What did you just call me?" he asks.

Oh gosh. I'm dead meat now. "M-muscle Man," I stutter in defeat.

The scowl on his face disappears and is replaced with a smile. "Muscle Man," he repeats, "I actually quite like that title."

"That's nice," I say slowly. "Now, are you done trying to squish me to a pulp with your mallet?"

Muscle Man gives me a confused look. "What is this mallet you speak of?"

"Y'know, it's the thing you're holding!"

Muscle Man glances down at the mallet. "This no ordinary device! This is Mjölnir!"

"Say that again?" I ask him.

"Mjölnir," he says slower.

"Yup. I still have no idea what you're saying. Anywho, the name's Lillia, but my friends all call me Lia." I extend my arm to shake his hand, but withdraw it after I realize Muscle Man has no idea what I'm doing.

"I am Thor Odinson, god of thunder!" Muscle Man booms.

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but I kinda have a friend that's dying, and I kinda need your help."

"Lead the way, friend."

"Well, he's excitable," I mutter under my breath as I walk back to where Aiden is with Emily.

When Aiden notices us, he gets up and hops/stumbles to Muscle Man and I. After giving the "god" a good look-over, he turns to me, "I've tried everything to stop the bleeding," I notice a sleeve of his wetsuit has been torn off and made into a makeshift bandage for Emily's arm, "but it hasn't been working. I'm afraid if we can't do anything productive soon, she'll..." Aiden never finishes what he's going to say, put I'm pretty sure even Muscle Man understands what he's implying. "So," Muscle Man says slowly, appearing to be thinking hard, "you are mortals."

"Yes," Aiden answers desperately, "and our friend is dying. Please help us."

Muscle Man simply grunts, then walks over to the nearly lifeless Emily, and picks her up, suit and all, bridal style. He turns around and starts walking down the rainbow bridge in the same direction I originally was going in. Soon, a large golden city comes into view. The stars in the sky turn into beautiful sun kissed clouds. "Where are we?" Aiden asks, hopping on one foot next to me in awe.

"You are in the kingdom of Asgard, the land of the gods," Muscle Man replied proudly.

"I haven't even gotten your name yet," Aiden realizes.

"I am Thor, the god of thunder!"

I roll my eyes. "Do you wanna know what I think?" I ask nobody in particular. "I think I'm dreaming."

Aiden hits me on the shoulder hard with the metal leg he's been carrying. "Ouch!" I exclaim. "What the heck was that for?"

"Yup," Aiden says, satisfied, "you're not dreaming."

SARA

"Alexandra Coulson and Eliza Roberts are at the door."

"Thanks, Jarvis," I've been trying to get the communication between me and Emily working again for the past hour with no luck.

I jog up the stairs from Tony's workshop and go to the front door, which I fling open. "What took you so long?" I ask Alex angrily.

"That's my fault," Eliza speaks before Alex can say anything. "Let's just say... I'm not a morning person."

"It's 1:30 in the afternoon," I reply in a flat tone.

"Whatever!" Eliza quickly changes the subject. "Besides, the main thing we're worried about here is figuring out how to save Becca without getting in the same mess Emily, Aiden, and Lia got in."

"Actually," I say slowly, "that's what I've been thinking about. What if we have to get in the same 'mess' Emily and the others got in? What if that's actually the key to saving Becca?"

"What if they just got sucked up to wherever Becca is?" Alex interrupts.

"What if they died?" Eliza exclaims, being the only person brave enough to say what we've been thinking.

Nobody says anything after that. Silently, I gesture for us to move downstairs to Tony's workshop. It's not until I get to the door when I remember something kinda important.

"Guys," I say slowly, "I just realized - this door is passcode locked."

"Stand back," Eliza instructs, cracking her knuckles, "I can break through this glass in a heartbeat."

"No!" Alex exclaims. "We need to leave this house like how we left it. If we go around breaking stuff, will totally know something's up."

"Let me try something," I say thoughtfully, the press a combination on the keypad.

The door unlocks. "How did you do that?" Alex asks, shocked.

"I remembered seeing Emily enter her code in earlier today."

"That's quite the memory you've got there," Eliza remarks.

"Yeah," I feel myself blush, "I've always had a great photographic memory. Anyways," I say as I walk over to the large desk of computers, "I actually haven't really tried to figure out what it is that's making everyone disappear. I've been trying to get back in touch with Emily again, which I guess was kinda stupid."

"You can say that again," Alex grumbles. Eliza steps on Alex's flip-flop clad feet.

"Guys!" I exclaim. "Be mature! I need you to help me figure out what happened."

Eliza sits down on a rolling stool near the desks, and starts to think. A few minutes later she asks, "Do you have any heat signatures from when she disappeared."

"I dunno," I say, turning the chair I sat down in to face the computers, "let's find out."

After about 5 minutes of searching, I find a page that showed all sorts of different readings on the Mark 2.5 before I lost contact with it. Alex reads the numbers over my shoulder. "Wow," she starts, "that was... Hot."

"Really hot," Eliza agrees, "but it only seems to have been bad for less than 3 seconds."

"I think it's safe to assume a sudden temperature spike like that isn't natural," I decide.

"Definitely," Eliza and Alex accidentally say in unison.

"So," I say slowly as I stand up and begin to pace, "what could've possibly created weird marks on the ocean's floor and spastic temperature spikes?"

"Underwater volcano?" Eliza suggests.

"No," I sigh, "we never saw any smoke."

"Lightning?" Alex volunteers.

I give Alex a "You've got to be kidding me" look. "Lightning isn't the answer to everything," I tell her.

"Worth a shot," she grumbles.

After about 30 more minutes of silence and pacing, a thought suddenly hits me like a brick that's... Hitting something. "Wormhole," I say quietly to myself.

"Come again?" Alex asks, flipping channels on the flatscreen TV. She gave up thinking about 15 minutes ago.

"Wormhole," I say much louder, "the solution of the field equations in German-born physicist Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity that resemble a tunnel between two black holes or other points in space time."

There's a long silence after I finish talking. "What just happened?" Alex's jaw is practically touching the ground.

Eliza is staring hard at me, green eyes narrowed. "Did you just..?" before she can finish her question, she runs over to 's floor to ceiling bookshelf and begins to look at different books then throw them over her shoulder when the book isn't what she's looking for. After about 5 minutes of this continual book-throwing, she must finally find the book she's looking for. She stands up with a smirk on her face and starts flipping through the pages.

"Yup..." she says, "you just quoted an encyclopedia."

"H-how did y-you d-do that?" Alex stutters.

"I tried to tell you my memory is photographic," I say casually. "I was reading up on some different types of worms a few months ago and kinda got sucked into the wormhole article instead."

"Ok, wow, photographic memory. That's great," Eliza rolls her eyes. "Could we please discuss this later? Because I'm a tally starting to think Sara's wormhole idea makes sense."

"But wormholes are nothing but a theory, right?" Alex asks.

"Just because nobody's seen a wormhole doesn't mean they're not real," Eliza says pointedly.

"With that kind of thinking, pigs could fly!" Alex exclaims, getting annoyed.

"Who ever said pigs can't fly?" Eliza is enjoying getting under Alex's skin.

I start researching wormholes more on the internet. "Hey guys," I say, interrupting Eliza and Alex's little spat. "Check out this blog."

Eliza looks over my shoulder. "It seems like this person really knows their wormholes," she remarks.

I nod then continue scrolling through the blog. My hand freezes when the screen stops at a post with a picture attached to it. That picture looks exactly like the odd swirly circle Emily found underwater. "We have to talk to this person," I decide. "Let's see if I can find an address."

I find the blogger's profile at the bottom of the page. "Her name is Jane Foster," I read, "and she lives in a small town out in the desert of New Mexico with her assistant and mentor."

Alex and Eliza immediately groan in frustration. "What's wrong with that?" I ask. "I could easily find us plane tickets or something if that's what you're worrying about."

"No, it's not that," Eliza begins to explain. "The problem is that SHIELD sent Bruce to a base in New Mexico to do some work there, and the base is only about 5 miles outside of that city."

EMILY

"Do you think she's gonna be ok?"

"Only time will tell."

"Oh my gosh! She's moving!"

I hear the voices of Lia and an older-sounding woman who I've never heard before as I finally begin to regain consciousness. My head is heavy and throbbing, and it takes too much effort to open my eyes, so I just lay wherever I am with them closed. I suddenly notice there's more pain coming from other than my head. My arm is throbbing and stinging as though someone just dropped a wasp's nest on it (Trust me. I know what that feels like. Long story short - never go into an unexplored wooded area barefoot.). I groan, the pain too much for me to bear. I hear Lia's footsteps as she gets closer to me.

"Where am I?" I groan as I suck it up and open my eyes. "Why does my arm hurt so bad?"

"It's a long story," Lia chuckles with a giant smile on her face. "I'll be right back. I have to find Aiden!"

Lia skips out of my limited field of vision. I instinctively reach to the right side of where I'm laying for my glasses, but end up just falling off the edge of something. I reach up and feel its blurred lines. Yup. I definitely just fell off a bed, and this bed definitely isn't mine. That's when I begin to freak out. Where the heck am I? Where did Lia go?

I try my best to focus my blurred vision on my surroundings. The room I'm in seems to have ridiculously high ceilings and golden walls. I feel my arm, which has begun to throb again. There seems to be some sort of fabric on it - like a bandage. It's not until now when it fully hits me that I'm not wearing my suit anymore. I'm wearing a white sleeveless dress whose fabric is softer than the finest silk. Footsteps from beyond the room I'm in warn me of incoming visitors. I jump into bed as quickly as my shaky feet will move and hope nobody saw me lying on the ground like an idiot. "Emily?" I immediately recognize Aiden's voice as he comes to my bedside. "You're alive!"

"How are you feeling?" Lia asks as she joins Aiden.

"Never better," I say with sarcasm. "I'm also practically blind at the moment."

"Oh! Right!" Lia exclaims, then hands me my much-needed glasses. "We found them in a compartment on your leg. It's a miracle they didn't crack."

"You can say that again," I laugh as I put on the glasses.

The room I'm laying in looks even nicer now that I can actually see it. A large golden diamond-studded chandelier towers over the king-sized bed I'm laying in. "Whoa," I breathe, taking in my surroundings.

"Yup," Aiden chuckles, "welcome to Asgard."

"Asgard?" I'm seriously confused. "What country is that?"

"It's not a country," Lia explains, "it's a totally different world!"

Lia and Aiden then take turns telling me how the swirly circle design in the Pacific was a portal to Asgard, the planet of the gods. The Mark 2.5 started folding in on itself thanks to the extremely strong force of the portal, which ended up cutting open practically my entire arm, and left me bleeding to death. A god named Thor showed us to Asgard's palace, where we apparently were being expected. These people know about Becca's disappearance and think they know where she is. That's why they opened up that portal to us. They want us to help fight whoever took Becca. They've made it obvious they know who kidnapped Becca, but they won't tell us.

I stay frozen in place, trying to take in everything Aiden and Lia told me. It's not until now when I notice my friends aren't wearing their SHIELD wetsuits anymore. Lia is wearing a long and flowy green toga with a silver beaded halter-top that appears to be made out of the same material I'm wearing. Her shoes are silver sandals with straps that swirl around her leg to below her kneecaps. Lia's hair is in a loose braid that runs down her back to her waist. Aiden is wearing black pants, a silver chest plate, and a matching black jacket above that. He's wearing black boots with veins of silver running through them. "Wow," I breathe, "you guys look fantastic!"

The serious look on Lia's face instantly turns into a smile of pure joy. "I know, right? Frigga had these outfits specially tailored for us."

"Wait, hold on," I interrupt Lia's happy explanation. "Who's Frigga?"

"Me," a woman with curly honey-blonde hair and a gold dress says as she walks into the bedroom.

"I'm sorry," I say nicely, immediately deciding Frigga wasn't dangerous, "but I don't believe we met."

"Actually," Aiden begins, "Frigga probably saved your life."

"Yes, probably," the woman agrees, "you were practically bleeding to death when my son first brought you to me. Luckily, I knew enough about Midguardian medicine to fix you up."

I look down at my left arm that is wrapped in a soft cotton material. It's still sore, but definitely not the searing pain I first felt. Gingerly, I try bending my arm, which makes me release a pained yelp. "I would recommend not moving your arm for a while until the medicine has taken full affect," Frigga suggests with a kind smile. "Now!" she continues with a clap. "I have a feeling you are all very hungry."

"Definitely!" Aiden, Lia, and I answer simultaneously.

"Follow me to the dining room. Tonight, you shall be my guests of honor."


	19. Problem&Turn off the Freaking Light&Text

**AN: I haven't gotten any reviews in awhile... That doesn't amuse me. Don't make me throw potatoes at you . **

ELIZA

"Wow, you know how to get things done!" I exclaim happily as the taxi pulls up to the airport a few hours after we figured out where we needed to be going.

"You should really be complimenting Jarvis," Sara replies. "He was the one who found this flight at such short notice. I'm just happy I have a large savings account to pay for this."

"Speaking of paying, let me at least pay for this taxi," Alex says, sitting in the middle since she's the smallest out of us three.

"Fine with me," I agree. I'm still having trouble adjusting to American currency. The nickels and dimes look too similar!

The driver lets us out at the domestic terminal for LAX. Alex pays, then we head inside to check in. After getting our tickets, we go to the security line and begin the long wait, hoping we won't be late for our 5 o'clock flight. Soon, we reach the front of the line, get our tickets approved, and begin the x-ray process.

It's not until then when I realize we might have a problem. I kind of forgot to mention earlier that my tiger's claws are special. They're made completely of metal. This means that when I'm human, the metal from the claws will probably still appear on a metal detector since the tiger's skeleton shares my skeleton.

I take a deep breath in (Bruce taught me some of his relaxation techniques) and continue placing my belongings in plastic bins as if nothing is wrong. An employee gestures for me to go through the metal detector. I casually walk through it, but immediately break out in a cold sweat when the device sounds an alarm. I curse under my breath. Apparently, I was loud enough for a security woman to hear me, because she immediately runs toward me, fists balled and ready for a fight. My tiger instincts take over, and I do the first thing I think of - run.

I grab my paint splatter design backpack and sprint as fast as I possibly can away from the security checkpoint without looking back at Sara and Alex. It's not too long later when I hear an announcement come over the airport's PA system, "Ladies and gentlemen - this airport is now on lockdown due to a possible security breach. Stay calm and please know authorities have been notified. Thank you for your cooperation."

By now, I've reached the end of the terminal, and am surrounded by people who are supposed to be boarding their flight to Chicago. "Move outta the way!" I hear a man shout from behind the group of confused people surrounding the gate desk. The people move to make a path so the group of security personnel can surround me. They all have handguns pulled and at the ready with their target being me. I hastily finish sending a text to Sara and Alex I was working on when I first realized I was stuck here - "Go on without me."

AIDEN

Dinner was thankfully a lot less awkward than I thought it be. Thor introduced Emily, Lia and I to his friends, who are most commonly known as Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. They're really nice, and I imagine Lia has already taken a liking to Sif, who seems to have the same rebellious personality she has. Also, Odin, who apparently is the king of Asgard, Thor's dad, and Frigga's wife, revealed who Becca's possible captor is - a god by the name of Loki. He's on a completely different planet at the moment, but Odin is worried Loki has plans of invading Asgard, which is why Odin has plans of attacking Loki before he can attack us. He wants Lia, me, and, once her arm has healed enough, Emily, to help fight. We're supposed to begin training tomorrow.

"Stop thinking and turn of the freaking light," Lia demands, half way asleep in her bed across from mine. Frigga has given Lia and I a Bedroom to share that's as large as Emily's.

"Can't you use your telekinesis or something and do it yourself?" I ask, sitting up on my bed to face her.

Lia never replies though, because she's already sound asleep. I smile at her peaceful figure then turn off the light myself and let sleep overtake me as well.

ALEX

The security folks herded everyone waiting to get screened into a large break room while they go chase Eliza. "We have to help her!" I exclaim.

Just as I speak, our cellphones ring simultaneously. We both have a text from Eliza. I read it then turn to Sara, who does the same. "It might be a good idea to find Bruce instead of ignore him when we get to New Mexico," Sara decides.


	20. Arrested&Flight 9

**AN: Why do I even try anymore to get reviews/faves/follows? I officially think I'm the only person still into this story -_-**

ELIZA

I'm sitting in a room inside the airport as the security agents wait for the police to arrive. Another announcement is made on the PA, "Ladies and gentlemen - the lockdown has ended. The airport will return to its normal operations. For any questions on flight schedule changes, see an employee. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience."

That woman's voice on the PA is just way to happy sounding for my current mood. A group of 5 armed policemen walk into the windowless room. Great. My mood is now 900% worse than it was before. "So little miss," the muscular man at the head of the group says, "what are you doing setting off metal detectors and running around this airport?

I say nothing.

"Not a talker," the man continues talking, "I'm not surprised. We're taking you down to the station."

I shrug, then let them pull me to wherever they're planning on interrogating me.

SARA

"Flight 9 to Albuquerque, New Mexico is now boarding."

Alex and I managed to quickly clear security and make it to our gate without a hitch. Lucky for us, it seem like they're only just now beginning the boarding process. We get our tickets scanned and board the plane. Alex and I play a few rounds of rock, paper, scissors to see who gets the window seat (she won... of course), and soon we're up in the air. Alex pulls out her iPod nano and spends the whole flight singing along to P!nk, while I tried to be productive and read about wormholes on my phone. That plan fails, and I quickly fall fast asleep. It feels like only 3 minutes later when Alex is shaking me awake.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!"

I open my eyes, moan, and stretch my extremely stiff back.

Alex has an obnoxiously happy grin on her face. "Welcome to New Mexico!" she exclaims.


	21. SOS Texting&Stress

**AN: Still no new reviews? I. am. Not. Amused.**

ELIZA

"We're here," a policeman pulls me out of his car and into the blinding glare of the setting sun.

"This doesn't look like a police station," I speak for the fist time since I was arrested.

"She's British!" the officer exclaims, ignoring my remark as he leads me inside an old, abandoned, rusty-roofed building that appears to be in the middle of nowhere.

Inside, the building's ceiling is about 50 feet high with metal bridges suspended all over where the second story would probably be. The policeman leads me to the metal table in the center of the large room, sits me down at a chair in front of the table, undoes my handcuffs, then quickly leaves the building. "That's odd," I say to myself, wondering why I'm the only person in this giant building.

I imagine I'm perfectly capable of escaping at the moment, but I really want to stick around and see what happens here. The policeman never confiscated my backpack, so I start digging inside it to find my phone to check my texts. I have one new message from Sara, "Just landed in New Mexico. Tell police little as possible. Whatever you do, DON'T TRANSFORM!"

I reply to her text, telling her I'm ok, and that the police have taken me to a creepy abandoned building. Something red and shiny on my shoulder catches my attention after the text sent. Oh god. This can't be happening. A sniper is aiming to shoot me. There can only be one person behind this. I frantically send a text to Bruce, Alex, and Sara: "Ross has found me. Help."

ALEX

"Why is it so hard to find a taxi here?" I complain. This heat is seriously getting on my nerves.

"Maybe if you stopped whining long enough to help me flag one down, we'd already be on our way!" Sara snaps back.

After about 5 minutes of bickering and waving at already occupied taxis, we finally catch a vacant taxi and begin the hour-long journey to Jane Foster's small town. I immediately pull out my iPod and start to rock out to Adam Lambert but mute the song when I see Sara's face pale as she reads something on her phone. "What's wrong?" I ask her nervously.

She hands me her phone, which has a text from Eliza pulled up on it. I read it then ask, "Who's Ross?"

Sara takes her phone back and says, "If I'm correct, it's this dude."

She gives the phone back to me. Now, I'm looking at the profile of a General Ross on the US Army database. Wow. This guy is pretty freaky. It says he's spent nearly 6 years hunting for the Hulk and will do whatever it takes to get him turned back over to the US government. "Do you think he's using Eliza as bait for ?" I have a feeling I already know the answer, but I ask anyways.

"Of course!" Sara practically snarls. "The worst part is his plan might work, since Eliza also sent that SOS text to Bruce."

I let out a long sigh and almost accidentally short out my iPod thanks to the increased electricity buildup in my body from so much stress. "So this means we have to find a way to save Becca, Aiden, Lia, Emily, AND Eliza!?"

Sara lets out a sigh as long as mine. "I'm afraid so."

There's a long silence as we try to figure out how the heck we're gonna do this when a question pops into my head, "How in the world did you get onto the US Army Database?"

Sara simply gives me a sly smile then goes back to working on her phone.


	22. Bess&DrSelvig

**AN: You're totally right, CrystalClear98 - the teenagers have a lot of work ahead of them, which means I have a lot of writing to do :) enjoy this chapter, I'll try to update again soon! Please continue to review, guys!**

ELIZA

All I remember is transforming into the tiger in sheer panic, being shot with the tranquilizer, and blacking out. As I slowly regain consciousness, I hear what sounds like 2 women whispering back and forth to each other. "She's waking up!" one woman exclaims in a louder voice.

"This 'she' has a name," I groan as I fight off a headache and open my eyes to find myself in some sort of examination room.

"She's British!" the same woman exclaims.

I take a good look at this room and the people in it. The girl who's making all the obvious observations looks young - probably mid 20s. Her short straight hair is dyed a bright red, and her abstract-designed black t-shirt and high-heeled black boots are a stark contrast to her white lab coat. The other woman in the room looks older. She's likely early 40s. Her long blond hair is pulled into a tight ponytail. She's wearing a white blouse, tan pencil skirt, and old lady glasses. I imagine if there's anyone in this room I should be scared of - it would be Blondie. "I'm going to tell Ross she's awake," Blondie says as she leaves the room, black high heels clicking on the tiled floor.

I watch Blondie leave the room then look down at what I'm laying on. Oh goody. My wrists have been tethered down to this hospital bed that wreaks of disinfectants. Fantastic. Could this day possibly get any worse?

Oh wait. It just did.

Blondie walks back into the room with General Ross hot on her heels. He stops at the foot of my bed and gives him an evil smile. "Hello there, Miss Rogers."

"Your bloody sarcasm doesn't work on me, so drop the act," I snarl, hearing a hint of the tiger in my voice.

"You're right, Silvia," Ross turns to Blondie, "she's most definitely British."

I let out a frustrated groan, "What's wrong with my being British!?"

Ross slaps me in the face. Hard. "What the heck!?" I growl, my left cheek stinging in protest.

The general turns towards a machine that appears to be monitoring... Wait a second... IS THAT MY FREAKING HEART RATE?

I glance under my t-shirt (at least I'm not wearing one of those godawful hospital gowns), and sure enough, those nurses have put my heart rate on display for all the world to see (well... I guess I'm being a little sarcastic, but you get the idea).

"If you think a high heart rate is what brings the tiger about," I venture, "you're dead wrong. Now tell me this: am I, or am I not Bruce Bait?"

"Ding ding ding! Give the girl a prize!" Ross says in an obnoxious tone.

I start slamming my head against the top of the hospital bed. I. Am. So. Over. Everything.

"Of course you're bait! The only thing he seems to care about now is you," the general explains.

I remember the stories Bruce told me about his Ross experiences. "Betty," I say her name as I "cough".

That obviously hits a sore spot with Ross, because his face begins to turn an unnatural shade of red. "Silvia!" he barks at Blondie. "Get Eliza's tests ready. We're gonna crack that tiger outta her whether she likes it or not."

I feel myself break into a cold sweat as they leave the room together. That last jab I made at Ross' daughter probably wasn't necessary, but it was totally worth it at the time. The red head looks up from the tablet she's been typing on. "You okay?" she asks me sympathetically.

"What do you think?" I grumble, straining against the metal wrist restraints.

"Yeah, I guess your current situation is a little obvious," the girl says as she pulls something out from under the bed I'm stuck on.

"My backpack!" I exclaim happily as she places it next to me.

"I grabbed this last-second while Ross and his baddies were dragging you out of that metal building," the girl explains. "I had a feeling you'd want it for when you escape."

"WHEN I escape? What do you mean?"

"It means I'm a good friend of Betty Ross, I know what you're going through, and I want to help."

"I like you," I smile for the first time since I've woken up in this nightmare. "What's your name?"

"Bonnie, but most people call me Bess."

My smile grows wider. "Bess, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

SARA

"We're here," the taxi driver announces as we pull in front of a circular retro-looking building.

I pay the well over $100 fare as Alex climbs out of the car. After thanking the driver for going so far out of town, I follow Alex and knock on the glass doors. There's a pause, then a pajama-clad tired looking man comes into our view and scowls at us, "We're closed! It's nearly 10 at night! Come back tomorrow!"

I rummage through my electric blue backpack as the man stomps away and finally find the picture of the swirly circle, which I plaster against the glass and knock again. The man turns around and sees me holding the paper. He goes and turns on some lights then comes back to take a good look at what I'm holding. His eyes slowly begin to grow wider until I'm worried they're gonna pop right out of his head. He grabs some keys from a nearby table and unlocks the door to let us in. "Who the heck are you, and where did you get that picture?" he immediately asks.

"I'm assuming you're Dr. Selvig ?" I guess, shouldering my backpack.

He nods. "Good," I say as I sit down on a couch in the small living room. Alex joins me, "Have we got a story for you."


	23. Rest in Pieces&A Family Reunion of Sorts

**AN: Here's the latest update! Enjoy! Please review!**

EMILY

My internal alarm clock and my still sore arm wakes me up at 8:45 AM. I take a moment to be happy the time here is the same as California then start getting ready for battle training. The large walk in closet in my room has shelves of clothing, and after a few minutes of choosing what to wear, I settle on a short dress made of silver scales of armor and soft brown material then get black leggings and brown boots with silver buckles to complete the look. My thick unruly hair won't cooperate, so I just pull it up in my trademark ponytail and leave it at that. I rush down to breakfast in the large dining room, hoping I'm not late.

After getting lost about 5 times, I finally reach my destination. "Sorry I'm late," I huff as I sit down next to Aiden.

As I start on my eggs, I can't shake the feeling off that someone's watching me. I look up and notice everyone at the table is staring at me. I quickly swallow a bite of eggs then say, "Is something wrong?"

Frigga hesitantly answers, "With your arm and all... We... Being Lia, Aiden, Thor, Odin, and I... Decided... It would be best for you to hold back on your training until it's properly healed."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I stutter, glancing at my bandaged arm. "I'm fine!"

I slam my knife on the table with my bad arm, which makes me release a pained yelp. Lia raises an eyebrow at me from across the table. "Fine. I see how it is. I have to stay in bed until my little cut heals while you guys train to save the world," I stand up faster than I should've and begin to see red spots in my vision, which disappear with a quick shake of my head.

I begin to stalk away from the large dining table when a thought hits me. "Where's the 2.5?" I ask, referring to my suit.

Everyone at the table exchanges worried glances, except Thor, who's too busy eating to notice what's happening around him. Aiden slowly slides out of his chair and gestures for me to follow him. We go down one of the many long passageways that wind through the palace. After a few minutes of walking through dimly lit hallways in a tense silence, Aiden stops in front of an old brown wooden door. "Just... Please don't shoot anyone, or turn into a Hulk, or explode," he says with a twinge of guilt in his voice.

"Why would I..." I stop talking when Aiden throws the door open.

The room inside is about the size of a janitor's closet and totally empty save for the huge pile of twisted and torn white metal. "Is that..." I start, but stop talking, because the lump in my throat makes it too hard to speak.

Aiden nods but says nothing. "What happened to it?" I ask.

"We had to take some - extreme - measures to get you out of the suit when you were unconscious."

"I can tell," I feel a tear run down my cheek and make no effort to wipe it away. The shock of seeing my suit like this freezes me to where I am - leaning against the door frame in the fetal position.

"What's wrong?" Aiden notices my crying.

"That suit was the only chance I had to make contact with home," I sniffle. "I could've been able to pick up a stray satellite signal from Earth or something, but now..." It becomes too hard to talk, so I burst into tears. "I just want to go home."

"Woah, woah," Aiden kneels down and gives me a hug, "this isn't the kind of attitude I'd expect to see from the great Emily Stark."

I instantly begin to feel better. After taking a deep breath to stop crying, I say, "You're right. I shouldn't be getting all wishy-washy," Aiden wasn't expecting me to stand up so suddenly. He nearly falls over but catches himself. "Help me get this stuff to my room," I tell him. "I have work to do."

ELIZA

All I remember is having a nice civilized conversation with Bess about Sherlock (she ships Johnlock, too!) then taking yet another tranquilizer to the neck. I'm seriously getting sick of being treated like some sort of wild animal. I open my heavy eyelids and find my self in the same bleach-smelling white sterile examination room. Adrenaline seems to be pulsing through my body. I feel more alert than ever and have no idea why, but it doesn't take me long to find out. "Is that blood?" I ask nobody in particular as I notice the contents of the IV somebody must've given me while I was out.

"Not just any blood," I see Ross sitting in a rolling chair at the corner of the room, "tiger's blood."

"Wouldn't mixing human and animal blood kill me!?" my voice is a full octave higher than usual thanks to the increased fear and adrenaline. I use all the strength I can muster and strain against the wrist restraints as hard as I can until I see drops of blood stain the sheets surrounding the metal cuffs.

"Actually, I believe you'll be perfectly fine, thanks to the state of this particular tiger before we killed it," Ross shoots me a smug smile.

"Would it kill you to not be do cryptic?" I snarl then grit my teeth in pain as my wrists begin to burn in protest from my continuing struggle to free myself.

"Aww, c'mon Rogers, I thought you were smarter than this."

I try to think of different breeds of tigers when it all suddenly makes sense. "Is... Is that the blood of the tiger that nearly killed me?"

Ross simply nods then saunters out of the room.


	24. New Plan&Bored

**AN: I still haven't gotten any new reviews yet... *starts looking for potatoes***

ALEX

The alarm clock in the hotel room Sara and I rented goes off at 7:30 AM. I begin my morning routine as Sara continues to doze in her bed. After putting on my outfit consisting of a striped shirt, denim shorts, brown sandals, and a French braid for my hair, I unplug my phone from where it was charging and check my texts. has sent a group text to Eliza, Alex, and me, "Eliza, I've told SHIELD about your situation. They're trying to track you down right now. I'll come for you as soon as possible."

"Oh god," I breathe, then jump onto Sara's bed.

She groans as I begin to jump up and down to wake her up, "Wha?"

" is gonna try to find Eliza, and I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Ross wants him to do! He could be captured! They'd be ready for him!" I say in one gulp of air.

Sara sits up and pushes me off her bed. I fall to the floor with a loud thump. That bruise on my arm will probably be there awhile. "Ok," she says after a few minutes of thinking, "here's the plan - we're gonna split up."

"That plan never ends well in Scooby Doo," I point out worriedly.

"Then it's a good thing we're not in Scooby Doo," Sara says matter-of-factly as she gets out of bed. "Anyways, I'm going to go back to Jane's place and get a better idea of the wormhole situation, and you're going to help Bruce save Eliza."

My jaw practically falls to the ground. "I-need to... What!? Why do I have to work with the big guy?"

Sara shoots me a "don't question me" look. "Admit it," she says as she goes to the small closet to find some clothes to change into, "it's a pretty logical plan."

I roll my eyes at the amount of smugness in her voice but have to admit she's right. "Fine. I'll do it."

Sara lets out a triumphant whoop as she walks out of the bathroom wearing denim Bermuda shorts, a shirt with a cartoon llama on it (I don't know why...), and her signature ZigTech sneakers. I roll my now gold eyes again, grab my satchel and a granola bar Sara bought last night, then leave from the hotel room's open window in a flash of lightning.

EMILY

Ok, I admit it. I could've been more productive for the first half of the morning, but when one adds my ADHD and natural teenager instincts together, it becomes kinda obvious that I wouldn't be able to make any progress on rebuilding my suit without music. It took some time, but I finally manage to turn the suit's helmet into a fully-functioning satellite radio system. Don't ask me how the helmet managed to find signals when we're Ina completely different "realm", because I have no idea. I'm in the middle of listening to Maroon 5 and pounding various pieces of metal into a more recognizable form when the song vanishes into nothing but static. A few repetitive kicks to the helmet seems to fix the glitch.

Thanks to the ADHD, I'm still bored out of my mind even though i have the background music. Whenever I feel like sneaking into Lia and Aiden's battle training or just giving up, I think of Dad and Pepper. They're probably devastated that I've disappeared like this. Static interrupts the song I'm listening to again. I let out a frustrated sigh and kick the radio a few more times than what was probably necessary.

I drop the tools in my hands and push my bedroom's window open. The morning sky over Asgard is breathtaking thanks to the extra suns and moons that are spread across the sky like butter on warm toast. Oh great. Now I'm becoming all poetic. I'm officially going insane.

A strand of hair comes loose from my ponytail, and I brush it away from my face as I make a silent vow to come home with all my friends alive, no matter what it takes.


	25. Not Again&Diner Confrontation

**AN: I hope you enjoy reading this installment as much as I enjoyed reading it. Please review! The review page is still... Dismal.**

ELIZA

I've spent the entire morning forcing my body to resist the tiger's blood being dumped into my system, and I don't know if I can do this for much longer. Bess hasn't made an appearance since last night. I'm beginning to lose hope. Wouldn't it just be easier to transform, let the government do whatever they want to torture me, then die a (hopefully) quick death? My face hardens. No. I can't do that. I can't risk Bruce's life for the benefit of my own. I have to stay strong, resist ,the...

Oh god. Not again.

For the umpteenth time in 24 hours, I feel the sharp sting of a needle in my neck as the whole world begins to spin and my head gets heavy. Next thing I know, I'm out like a light.

ALEX

It's not until I'm nearly 50 miles outside the small New Mexico town do I realize I have no idea where I am or where I'm going. I've just been aimlessly flying above the highway for who-knows-how-long. An empty truck stop comes into view. I decide to land there and regroup. Nobody seems to notice me land in the giant lifeless parking area, and I'm soon on a sidewalk en route to a diner I first noticed when I was making my final descent.

Inside the small diner, I see a family with 2 young children sitting at a booth, an older couple sitting up at the bar, and a younger man and woman sitting in a booth opposite to the family. I decide to sit at the bar, not wanting to waste any broom space. A bored-looking middle-aged man comes to take my order. I decide on a BLT and Coke. Once the waiter has walked back into the kitchen, I pull out my phone and begin to send a text to Dad. Maybe he can point me in the right direction to wherever is.

As I type out the message, I can't shake off the feeling I'm being watched. I turn around in my seat to check out my surroundings. The old couple next to me are sharing an ice cream sundae while the young children from that family were choosing a song to play on the jukebox sitting near the entrance. A man wearing a suit was ordering something to-go while the man and woman sitting together were having a peaceful conversation. Huh. I guess I'm just imagining things.

The waiter interrupts my thoughts when he brings the sandwich and soda. I thank him then begin to eat and finish my text. Not too long later, I have the text sent and my plate cleaned. I pay the waiter (thank God Sara decided to lend me some money) then leave, still waiting for a reply from Dad. Having nothing better to do, I sit down on a bench in front of the diner and busy myself with cleaning out my phone's camera roll (I took way too many pictures when I went to the aquarium with Emily and Sara a few weeks ago). Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder and nearly jump our of my skin in surprise. I spin around and see the man and woman who were in the diner a few minutes ago. The man is wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, black sunglasses, and pointing a bow and arrow at my face. Meanwhile, the woman is wearing a black hoodie that's covering her eyes, red jeans, and is also pointing a weapon at me. She has a gun. "What the..." I'm speechless. Why the heck are these people aiming weapons at my face!?

"We saw what you did at the truck stop," the woman says, holding the gun closer to my forehead.

"Truck stop..." I say slowly. This whole situation has given me a major brain fart.

"Don't play dumb with us," the main growls, his arrow glinting in the afternoon sunlight.

Well this is just swell. I remember now. "Are you talking about when I..." Not exactly sure how to explain what I did, I just make a random motion with my hands and hope they know what I'm trying to say.

"Obviously," the woman replies in a flat tone. She then nods to the man, "Get her."

Crap. This wasn't part of the plan. My eyes turn gold as I take off running down the sidewalk, thankful Emily convinced me to join track last spring. Loud footsteps tell me my opponents are catching up quickly. I can't just fly away; there are too many people on the road, and I can't risk being seen by anyone else. The woman grabs my arm tight, and I manage to release a bolt of electricity. She releases a startled shout and lets me go. I try to run faster, pumping my arms and pushing my legs to their limits, my lungs burning for air, yet the 2 people are still close behind me. The man manages to clasp on to my satchel. I veer to a stop, spin around, and plant a hard kick on his shoulder. He grunts, but still holds my bag tight. I'm about to hurl a bolt of electricity at his face when the woman grabs my arms from behind. The electricity bolt ends up flying into an abandoned gas station, which evidently still has gas stored, since the place erupts into flames.

My whole body protests in pain as the woman puts my arms into an unnatural position behind my back, rendering them pretty much useless. I'm to go for plan B, which involves sucking it up and flying, when something whistles past my ear. "Stop struggling or I won't miss this time!" the man shouts over the nearby flames.

Deciding I don't want to die today, I go limp. "Who are you?" I ask.

"We were about to ask you that," the man replies, reluctantly putting his weapon away.

"I have my Miranda Rights and am planning on using them," I say as the woman handcuffs me.

"Pfft, Miranda Rights," the woman scoffs, "we're way above that."

My reply was interrupted by my phone's bugle ringtone. The man is already digging around in my satchel trying to shut it off. "Hey!" I exclaim, then kick him in the head. "My satchel."

I continue to dig for my phone as the man and woman just stare at my in a shocked silence. When I finally find it, I answer it with my foot and put in on speaker. "Hello, this isn't the best time, can I call you back later?" I ask whoever called me.

"Alex?" I hear Dad's confused tone on the other end.

"Oh... Hey Daddy," I try to say in my most innocent voice.

"What's going on?" he asks.

"Well, I think I'm being kidnapped."

"What!?"

During this extremely awkward conversation, the man and woman have been staring at me in awe. The man slowly begins to speak, "Agent Coulsin... Sir? Is that really you?"

"Barton!? What are you doing with my daughter?"

"D-daughter?" it's the woman's turn to be amazed. She pulls the hood off her face, revealing intense red curls, as she leans in closely to get a good look at me. "Since when did you have a daughter?"

I can hear Dad release a loud sigh. "Take her to PEGASUS. I'll meet you guys there and explain everything. And for the love of God, please don't handcuff her."

"They already did!" I shout as the man (I guess he's Barton..?) undoes my handcuffs.

"You know what... I'm just... Done," and with that said, he hangs up.


	26. Wormholes&ChangingPlans&A Flippin' Cage

**AN: Still no reviews. What have I done to deserve this!?**

SARA

"So... My whole wormhole theory... Was actually right?" I ask in shock.

"You were spot on!" Jane exclaims from behind a computer. "I can't believe it! After 6 months of nothing, he's finally coming back!"

"He?" I repeat, confused.

"Jane's demigod boyfriend," Darcy explains, which earns her a slap courtesy of Jane.

I've been working with Jane, Darcy, and Selvig all morning, trying to crack the secrets of that strange circular formation. After Jane traced some heat signatures from when the circle first appeared, she was able to confirm everyone's suspicions. "Demigod?" I'm confused.

Darcy nods then goes back to texting on her phone. "Jane..." I say slowly, "where does that wormhole lead to?"

And that's how Jane and Selvig launch into an explanation about the 9 Realms that will change my way of thinking forever.

EMILY

"Most painful thing I've ever had to go through, hands down," Lia declares as she walks into my room with Aiden after lunch.

"I'm actually gonna have to agree with Lia on this one," Aiden falls onto my full sized bed. "That was tougher than SHIELD during cardio day, which is saying something."

I appear from behind my halfway constructed suit. "Sounds like somebody had a bad day," I chuckle, twirling a wrench around my finger. Frigga helped me find an old toolbox filled to the brim with "Midguardian objects".

Aiden throws a pillow at me. "Shut up."

"I don't even see why we need to do this training," Lia huffs, her bronze armor clanking as she sits down on the bed next to Aiden.

"Probably because they don't want you to die," I'm in a happy, smart-allecky mood right now since the suit has decided to corporate with me.

Now it's Lia's turn to throw a pillow at me. The impact is a bit more painful than Aiden's throw though, thanks to his telekinesis. "I surrender!" I scream dramatically as the pillow pelting continues.

"Ok. Fine," Lia says, putting her pillow down. "But in all seriousness, we need to do something about this training situation."

"Lia?" Aiden says in fake shock. "Being serious?"

Lia whacks Aiden with one of the many pillows still piled up on my bed. "Ok! Ok! We'll stop! Though I must admit, I actually like where Lia is going for once."

I stop my fiddling with the arc reactor. "Are you implying we should..."

"Go find Becca on our own? Yes. Yes I am."

"You're starting to sound like Lia," I chuckle.

"What can I say?" Aiden flashes an innocent smile. "I'm desperate."

"You can say that again," I huff and blow some of my bangs away from my face.

"So it's a plan, then?" Lia asks.

"Yup. Be ready to leave by dawn." Aiden stands up and walks towards the door. Lia follows him.

I stand up and manage to hit my head on the suit's arm, which hurts. A lot. "Dawn!?" I repeat as I rub the top of my head. "How am I supposed to have finished the suit by then? I still need to reconnect the other arm, get the arc reactor working, and turn my helmet into an actual helmet again!"

Aiden turns around with a know-it-all grin. "Then you better get going, Stark."

Lia rolls her eyes and follows Aiden down the corridor back to their room. I slam the door shut, lock it, then fall onto my bed with a groan. This is going to be a long night.

ELIZA

I wake up, head still spinning, and begin to asses my surroundings.

Well. This is new.

A cage. I'm in a flippin' cage. Not any cage though, it's a giant clear box that seems to be made of plastic or something. That should be easy to escape from. I look down and see I have giant paws for hands. I must've cracked while I was knocked out. "Oh, lookie here! Sleeping Beauty has awakened! Now the real fun can begin!"

I make a low, menacing growl at the sight of Ross' looming figure, then run into the cage's wall as hard as I can, only to be greeted by an electric shock that pulses painfully throughout my body. Ross laughs with glee as I fall to the hard concrete floor. "Like the upgrades I made? This box is totally Rogers-proof."

My blurred vision focuses on Blondie, who's walked into the darkened operating room-like area with a clipboard in hand. "General Ross, sir, the first round of tests are ready," she informs him with a sickeningly dull voice.

"Fantastic! Get them started," Ross instructs.

I close my eyes in defeat as I mentally prepare myself for whatever tortures I'm about to experience. Where's Bess? Where's Bruce? Where are my friends? Has everyone abandoned me?


	27. The Consultant&Darcy's Discovery

**AN: Later in this chapter, Sara will be using her photographic memory. Everything she says can be found on Wikipedia :)**

ALEX

The drive to the New Mexico SHIELD base is... Awkward. It didn't help that we had to explain to the local fire department why an abandoned gas station blew up before we left. Now, we're all just sitting silently in a black SUV, driving on a road that looks like it goes nowhere, avoiding all eye contact. After what seemed like forever, but was only an hour, Clint (I finally had a formal introduction during the drive) says, "We're here."

We all let out a collective sigh of relief as we near a large facility surrounded by barbed wire and electric fences. Clint stops the car at a security guard station, and after explaining why we're here and taking a fingerprint test, we're let in to the large SHIELD base. As we near what I'm assuming to be the main building, we pass a sign that says something about a Project Pegasus. I heard Dad talking about that with Natasha and Clint earlier. The car finally comes to a stop, and I get out as fast as humanly possible. Dad is standing outside the building's entrance. Before I go see him, I turn around to the 2 assassins and ask, "No hard feelings?"

Clint looks at Natasha, who says, "We'll have to think about that," with the most genuine smile I've seen in a really long time.

I return the smile, then go see Dad. "You really need to learn to control your assassins," I tell him.

"Yeah, my bad," he replies, then his tone becomes more serious. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Break into a top-secret government testing facility while it's on high alert for a giant green Hulk? Pshht, a walk in the park. Nothing could possibly be worse than 's algebra class," I chuckle.

Dad gives me a knowing look. "Ok, fine, this is probably gonna be a nightmare thanks to my awful luck, but I have to help my friend," I admit.

Dad pats me on the back then leads me inside. "Well," he says somewhat awkwardly, "welcome to SHIELD."

The room we've walked into is large and cavernous, with a nearly 3 story tall ceiling and large windows with the perfect view of a long jet runway, many helipads, and a large field of satellites tracking who-knows-what. "How were you able to keep this from me for so long?" I breathe in amazement.

"I'm not a Clearance Level 7 agent for nothing."

"Clearance Level what?"

Dad makes an "I've said too much look" . Before he can say anything else, Natasha walks up to us and notices the look Dad still has plastered to his face. "What's his problem?" she asks.

I shrug. "What were you guys even doing in that diner?" I ask Natasha.

"Trying to make the most of our day off," Natasha replies, "but then you came. Of course, we being who we are, became suspicious and immediately expected you to be some sort of alien."

"Alien. That's nice," my quest for normal has officially reached an all-time low.

"Anyways," Dad seems to have snapped out of whatever face he was stuck on, "are you ready to meet your partner for this mission?"

" ?" I ask.

"Nope," Dad has an uneasy look on his face.

"Dad," my tone grows more serious, "who is it?"

"The consultant," Dad says quickly.

Natasha, whom I didn't realize is still listening to us, suddenly dies laughing. Clint walks over to her, asking what's going on. She whispers something, then he starts cracking up as well.

"The consultant?" I repeat.

"Just... Just follow me," Dad instructs before he goes down a hallway to the left of the large windows.

He stops in front of a door marked "Lab 13 - Authorized Personnel Only". Dad scans what I'm assuming to be his ID card as the door slides open. We walk into a large laboratory with tables and tables of different machinery I won't even be able to identify. Barely any lights are on, so it's hard to see anything. I notice somebody in the back of the room looking at a hologram. The hologram immediately disappears when the person realizes they're not alone. "Coulson!" oh god, I recognize that voice. Why do I recognize that voice!?

"I already told you, I don't wanna do it," the voice continues.

"And I've already told you - you have to. This could help us find Emily."

The person flinches, then walks over to a wall to turn on a set of lights.

"Fine. I'll do it," Tony Stark sighs. "For Emily."

SARA

"Anything?" Jane asks Selvig.

"Nothing." he rubs his forehead then continues scrolling through articles.

"Sara?" Jane turns to me.

I shake my head. "This is a lost cause. How are we going to find a power source as strong as the Bifrost?"

After Jane was absolutely positive that was indeed a wormhole, she thought maybe we could find a way to recreate it. So, here we are - nearly 4 hours later, still having no idea how the heck we're gonna open our own wormhole.

"Hey guys, check this out," Darcy is looking at something on her phone.

Jane picks up the phone and does a double take. "Darcy!" she snaps. "How did you hack onto the SHIELD database?"

"Hack?" Darcy laughs. "I most definitely didn't hack. I'm pretty sure everyone in this room is well aware that I cannot hack. I just guessed the password."

"What is it?" asks Selvig.

"1234."

Selvig starts to laugh so hard he chokes on his coffee. Jane shrugs then goes back to looking at Darcy's phone. "You're a genius, Darcy!" she exclaims. "This might work. This seriously might work as a power source. How did you know this might work!?"

"What are you even looking at?" I ask.

Jane places the smartphone a computer table. Selvig and I both lean over to check out the object the phone is displaying. It's a large glowing blue cube.

"Wait... I think I've read something about that," I say as I try to use my evidently photographic memory again. "The Tesseract is involved in HYDRA's plan for world domination. During World War II, Johann Schmidt captured the cube in Tønsberg, Norway. Schmidt and HYDRA head-scientist Arnim Zola harnessed the power of the Tesseract to power weapons to be used against the Allies. Captain America foiled Schmidt's plan to use the Tesseract to launch an aerial attack on the United States in a highly advanced plane by damaging the conduits transferring the cube's power to the ship, and as Schmidt picked up the Tesseract, its power opens temporarily a portal into space and Schmidt is consumed by the energy and disintegrates, while trying to use it for himself. After Captain America crashed Schmidt's plane, the cube was recovered by Howard Stark."

Jane, Darcy and Selvig are staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths. "Did you just..." Jane starts.

"We'll talk about that later," I interrupt.

Jane shakes her head quickly, as if she's attempting to forgot what she just witnessed. "Darcy, how did you even notice the Tesseract? SHIELD probably has thousands of entries on its database."

Darcy shrugs. "It looked cool."

Selvig suddenly snatches the phone off the table and turns it off. "Nope," is all he says as he walks out of the lab into the living room.

Jane runs in front of him and literally turns him around. "What are you talking about?" she asks. "This... This Tesseract could be exactly what we need to create the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Its data registered huge amounts of energy discharge from it. We can totally find a way to control that energy and-"

Selvig grabs her shoulders. "Jane Foster, listen to me. Whatever you do, Stay. Away. From. The Tesseract."

"Why?" Jane asks, pulling away from her mentor.

Selvig lets out a loud sigh and collapses on the couch. "A few weeks after Thor left, SHIELD called me to one of their research facilities. They wanted me to figure out what type of powers the Tesseract possesses. I agreed to their request and... And..." His face pales.

"What happened?" I ask, walking into the living room with Darcy.

"The magic... The dark, dark... Magic. The Tesseract possesses powers beyond control of even the smartest human. If the Tesseract were to fall into the wrong hands... We should all fear the worst."

"What did SHIELD do with the Tesseract?" Jane asks.

Darcy turns her phone back on. "It says here they cancelled the program and have the Tesseract in a storage facility."

Selvig chuckles. "Cancelled the program - that's a load of crap. I know Fury, and I know SHIELD. They would never give up so easily on testing an object with mind-boggling powers."

"So you're saying, if we really... Really... REALLY... wanted to find the Tesseract, we could?" I ask.

Selvig gets up from the couch really fast and stomps back into the lab. "Nobody will be doing any finding. That godforsaken piece of dark magic is better off locked up. Girls," he turns bak towards us, "I need you to promise me you won't go looking for it."

"Ok," I say glumly.

"I-but-you... Fine," Jane says.

"You do not need to worry about me," Darcy smiles.

"Good," Selvig returns the smile and heads towards the front doors. "Now if you don't mind, I'll be at the diner if you need me. I seriously need some air."

Right when the door shuts behind me, Jane turns around and faces Darcy and I. "Let's go find that Tesseract!" she exclaims.

"But we just promised him we wouldn't," I reply, confused.

"I had my fingers crossed!" she says in a singsongy voice as she walks/skips back into the lab.

Darcy and I exchange dumbfounded looks then quickly follow Jane.


	28. An Unexpected Discovery&Skydiving

**AN: The amount of views I've gotten is fantastic! The amount of reviews... Not as fantastic...**

ALEX

"Just because I agreed to this doesn't mean I'm not mad at you," grumbles from behind a holograph.

"Why are you mad at me?" I ask as I walk around the lab randomly opening drawers and cabinets to see what's inside.

"My daughter is gone."

I slam the door of a cabinet shut and spin on my heel to face him. "Are you trying to imply this entire thing is my fault?"

"Yes."

I give him my best death stare. "I had nothing to do with what happened to Emily," I say slowly, as if talking to an incompetent preschooler, "and I'm just as mad as you are, which is why I'm here."

"Ok, fine. I'm sorry. I said it. I'm sorry... For getting so worked up."

"Apology accepted," I reply reluctantly, stepping into a coat closet. After a long pause, I ask, "When do we leave?"

"As soon as I figure out where that idiot Ross is keeping her. Y'know, I actually had a conversation with him once."

"What happened?" I ask from the closet. Hey! Check this out! Yellow zebra striped leggings! Why are there yellow zebra striped leggings? Oh well. Clothes are clothes. They fit me too! Besides, I need something to cover my now bruised and battered legs. If only I could find something to replace my muddy shirt as well...

"Long story short, I had to buy the bar he tried getting me kicked out of."

"Fun." My shorts over the leggings look really cool together if only I could find a matching shirt... What d'ya know! A yellow tank top! "What happened to ?" I ask, pulling the tank on.

"I don't really know. Nobody will tell me anything, but I'm willing to bet he's somewhere in the form of a giant green rage monster."

A loud beeping coming from the lab jolts me out of my thoughts. "What's going on?" I run out of the closet.

"Found her!" Tony's smug grin turns into confusion when he looks at me. "What are you wearing?"

"None of your business," I scoff, then change the subject. "How did you find her?"

"Simple. Hack into the army's files until you find Ross' profile. We're going to where he last used his ID card."

"Where was that?" I ask, shouldering my satchel.

"Area 51."

EMILY

"Wakie wakie!" Lia shakes me awake.

"Don't wanna..." I mumble, then roll back over in my bed.

"Wake... Up... Now!" Lia hits me with a pillow.

"Ok, ok, I'm up," I yawn. Now that I think about it, I don't even remember falling asleep.

"We're leaving in 10 minutes. Meet in the throne room," with that said, Lia breezes out of my room. I get out (more like fall out) of my bed then go over to the closet where I'm assuming I put the suit before I crashed in bed. As I fling open the large closet doors, I suddenly remember everything that happened last night as I take in my suit's new design.

Long story short, I was being lazy. Well, who can blame me? It was around 4 in the morning when I finally fell asleep. I never completely finished rebuilding the suit, I just built it enough so it would still look cool. The suit's metal boots stop below the kneecap then wind around up to the arc reactor. Only one arm connecting to the arc was rebuilt. I modified the hand repulser on the other arm into a device that looks like a white bracelet but can change into the weapon with my glasses when I find it necessary. My helmet is... Nonexistent, mainly because I was too tired to disconnect the radio wiring. I did end up making an earpiece I can use to communicate with Jarvis.

I put on gold leggings and a white tank top then begin the process of putting on the suit. Luckily, I manage to get into the suit without much trouble, though I still greatly miss Jarvis' robot arms. My still injured arm didn't really help the situation either.

This is it. The moment that might determine my friends' fates. Ok, I admit that sounds a little dramatic, but it's true. Anyways, here's the big question: will my suit turn on?

I use my glasses' interface to activate the suit. After a few feeble flashes from the arc reactor I repaired with jelly and bobby pins (don't ask how), it comes to life with a brilliant flash of blue. "Jarvis?" I say slowly into the earpiece, hoping I managed to do the impossible and connect to his mainframe, which is currently in another dimension.

At first, all I hear is a good amount of static. "Jarvis?!" I say again, feeling more panicked.

The sound of static gets really loud then suddenly stops. "Hello, Miss."

I have to bite my lip to keep from shouting with joy. "Jarvis? Is that really you."

"I am 100% sure I am really me."

I smile, then go down to the throne room as fast as my suit will allow me without flying. "What took you so-" Lia stops scolding when she notices my suit.

"Your suit..." Aiden starts.

"IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" Lia exclaims, rushing over to check it out with Aiden hot on her heels.

"Thanks, but can we talk later?" I suggest. "We kinda have a rescue mission we need to go on."

"Right," Aiden shakes his head in an attempt to focus again, "let's get out of here before people start waking up."

We follow Aiden out of the throne room, down one of the many winding corridors, and into the large entrance hall. Outside, the cool morning air of Asgard reminds me of the weather at home during the beginning of sping. I have to push away a pang of homesickness as we begin to fly through the quiet streets of Asgard back to the rainbow bridge. Lia is riding piggyback on Aiden while he flies with his prosthetic, and I fly alone. I'm still trying to figure out how to work the rebuilt suit.

As we approach the bridge, Jarvis begins to detect more people. "Can you identify them?" I ask.

"4 Asgardian Demi-gods. Exact names - unknown."

"Crap," I mumble. "Guys," I say louder so Aiden and Lia can hear me over the sound of rocket boosters, "we have company."

After exchanging troubled looks, we make relatively graceful landings and begin to approach whoever seems to be expecting us. I'm getting a sinking feeling I know who they are. As we get closer, the figures begin to walk towards us, and we meet in the middle of the bridge.

"Do we have to go back to the palace?" Lia asks sadly.

"Of course not!" Lady Sif replies, the Warriors 3 standing behind her.

"We are going with you to Jotunheim!" Thor declares.

"How did you know that's where we're going?" Aiden asks.

"We heard you talking in the throne room," Fandral explains. "You are all quite loud."

"So, you're going to help us deliberately disobey your father?" Lia is getting excited.

"We do it all the time, why stop now?" Sif says, chuckling.

"It's actually great that you guys are here, because I just realized we have no idea how to even get to Loki," Aiden points out.

I face palm. How could we have forgotten such an important part of the plan?

"To be honest, I do not think we know how to get there, either," Volstagg says.

"I do," Thor speaks up. "We jump."

"Off the bridge!?" I practically shout.

"Yes. That is what my brother did, and he appears to be fine."

Sif takes a deep breath. "Whatever you say. You are in charge."

"In that case, let us jump!"


	29. Plans Set into Motion

**AN: Yes, I know, I know... This chapter is really short. For some reason, I had a lot of trouble writing this, so please forgive me if you don't find this to be my best work. Don't forget to review!**

SARA

This is it. Operation: Steal the Tesseract has now begun. We're in the middle of Step 1: Get to SHIELD's storage facility. So far so good, because I have the way to get there memorized. Well, actually, I have the entire map of New Mexico memorized, but that's besides the point. "Turn here," I instruct Jane, who's driving the large van.

"There's no road there," Jane replies, worried.

"Just do it," I say.

"Whatever you say," she says sarcastically as she turns down the barely there road.

After about an hour of driving down that same road, the rooftops of buildings come into view. Step 2 is about to begin.

ALEX

I don't know if I should classify this as my best or worst day ever. At the moment, I'm flying next to Iron Man en route to Area 51 to save my friend from a bunch of government goons. Yup. This is being filed under "Best Day of my Life".

"There it is," Tony says, interrupting my thoughts.

I look down at where Tony points and see a cluster of buildings right below a large pond. It's exactly how I imagined it would look. Now that I think about it, this entire week has been like a freaky sci-fi movie come to life. "That's not creepy," I reply sarcastically, referring to the government base. "Are you sure this is where Eliza is?"

"When have I not been sure about something?" Tony shoots back.

"Well - "

"That was a rhetorical question," he angles the Mark 7 just right so the glare of the sun off the suit shines into my eyes.

I groan and follow Tony towards a small group of trees north of the pond. "Now what?" I ask after we've landed.

"I dunno."

"What!? What do you mean you don't know?" I'm livid.

"We're gonna wing it."

"Wing it. I can totally imagine that plan backfiring."

"You'll be surprised at the vast amounts of luck I have."

I face palm. This is gonna be a long day.

AIDEN

"It's really quiet," I notice as we explore the dark abyss known as Jotunheim. Thor was right about jumping off the bridge. After about 5 minutes of terrifying free fall, we finally landed in the world of the Frost Giants.

"Too quiet," Thor agrees.

"Where are they?" Sif asks. "They were prepared and ready to battle us last time we were here."

Emily listens to something on her ear piece. "No organisms detected in a 5-mile radius except us," she says.

Hogun lifts the hood of his cape over his face, "Something big is about to happen."

"Maybe we can find somebody in the palace," Thor suggests.

"Better than doing nothing," Lia shrugs.

We follow Thor past clusters of cave and underground tunnel openings. "Where do those caves lead to?" I ask.

"Most do not lead anywhere. These caves are what the Frost Giants call home."

"Creepy," Lia remarks.

We walk for about 10 more minutes until a large rock formation appears in the distance. "What's that?" I ask.

"The palace of Jodunheim. 'Tis where the ruler lives."

"Loki?" Lia clarifies.

"Loki." Thor's face looks grim.

"Jarvis is detecting only 3 people in there," Emily tells us when we get closer to the miserable excuse for a palace.

"Where IS everyone else!?" a frustrated Fandral exclaims.

"Obviously not here," Lia chuckles. Everyone moans in annoyance, and I step on her foot once again with my metal leg.

"I have a plan!" Thor announces excitedly.

"Do tell," Sif says, looking a little bit happier.

"Lady Sif and the Warriors 3 shall come with me to stop Loki's invasion, whilst you 3 go search for your friend. We shall meet back here when our job is complete."

"Can you guys handle doing this by yourself?" Sif asks.

"Yeah, no sweat," Lia replies nervously. Sif shoots her a knowing look. "Seriously! We'll be fine."

"Ok, if you say so," the men begin to walk away from the palace, and Sif runs to catch up. "Good luck!" she shouts over her shoulder.


	30. Area 51

**AN: So sorry it's taken me nearly 2 weeks to update. I really wanted this chapter to be good, so I probably did more proof reading than what was really necessary. Enjoy and don't forget to review!**

ELIZA

"Eliza? Eliza!? Oh god, please don't be dead, please don't be dead."

I groan when I hear the sound of somebody's voice.

"You're not dead!"

"Bess?" I barely whisper her name.

"Yes, it's me."

I slowly open my eyes and see I'm still in the same godforsaken cage. Bess' fiery red hair comes into my field of vision. "Where have you been?" I ask, my voice still a whisper.

Bess walks over to a set of computers as she explains, "Ross didn't like how I was 'bonding with the enemy', so he put me an unpaid leave for a few days. I talked to Betty, who convinced him to let me start working again." Bess enters a command into a computer, and I hear my cage make a loud clicking sound.

"What are you doing?" I still can't really talk, my throat is dry from lack of use. I look down and notice I'm a tiger, but I look different now. "Why am I black and gray!?"

Bess sighs, turning away from the computer, walks and kneels down beside my cage. "Ross..." she begins slowly, "has changed you."

"Changed me?" my voice is growing stronger.

"He wouldn't give me any details, but he called you his biggest success story."

"Speaking of which," I try standing, but crumple to the ground in pain. I feel like I've been shot in the shoulder or something. "Where is Ross?" I finish my question, ignoring the stabs of pain now bubbling from nearly every nerve center in my body.

"He said he'd be out celebrating, which probably means he's getting drunk somewhere. Silvia's in charge until he comes back," Bess starts typing on my cage's keypad.

"What are you doing?" I ask her again as I continue to struggle to stand up.

"I'm staying true to my word and busting you outta here," she grunts as she pulls the heavy door of the cage open.

ALEX

"Guard!" I hiss to Tony.

We duck behind a bush as another guard walks past the large genetic research building Tony is 97.8% sure Eliza is in. "God, not again," Tony sighs, opening his faceplate.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"Jarvis' line keeps on going on busy."

"What does that mean?"

"It either means this suit needs to go in for repairs, Jarvis is being a huge pain, or somebody else is using him."

I immediately think of Emily's suit that Sara told me about. Emily could still be alive! I decide to not tell Tony that though, because I don't want to get his hopes up. "Huh, that's odd," is all I say.

"Coast is clear," Tony says as he closes his faceplate, reminding me of our mission. "Let's move, Sparky."

We move towards a small side door with "Do Not Enter" signs plastered all over it. Tony blasts it open resulting in tons of security alarms going off. I hear him let out string of curses loudly over the blaring alarms. "We need to find Eliza and get out of here!" he exclaims as he rockets down a hallway, with me hot on his heels.

As we turn down another white sterile hallway, I feel something whizz past my shoulder. It's a bullet. I immediately stop and turn around. "Uhh, Tony," I shout over the alarms, "we have company!"

ELIZA

Bess had just finished disconnecting my various IVs when the alarms went off. "What's going on?" I ask, moving a little closer to her side.

She runs to a computer. "Security breach," she says as she scrolls through different messages sent between people at the base, "Broke through the Northern door. It seems like they're getting closer to us. We need to get you out of here now."

"What if they're my friends?" I ask, feeling a spark of hope.

"What if they work for a malevolent spy network?" Bess shoots back.

"Point taken."

Bess grabs something from a desk drawer then gestures for me to follow her. "Wait," I say warily, "is that another one of those tranquilizer guns?"

"Yes. Yes it is. We're leaving now."

We burst out of the darkened operating room and into a brightly lit hallway. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust after being in darkness for so long. "This way!" Bess hisses as she sprints down the hallway.

I run as fast as I can to follow her, but my legs are still sore from lack of use and countless operations. We turn down another hallway with an exit at its end. I think we're home free, but then the giant security guards come out of nowhere, and I know we're dead meat.

ALEX

"Where are all these guards coming from?" I ask Tony as I shoot a large ball of energy at a group of armed men running towards me.

"It looks like they're coming from a nearby training facility," Tony replies, using his repulsors to fend off some guards who opened fire.

"Maybe I can shut down whatever is going on over there, and you can keep looking for Eliza," I suggest, ducking behind Tony's suit as a shower of bullets barely miss me.

"Good idea, Sparky, now go away and do that."

I roll my eyes then begin to retrace our path out the building and hopefully towards the bad guys.

ELIZA

"Freeze!" one of the guards tells us as the men behind him aim their guns.

"What do we do now?" I whisper to Bess.

"Drop the weapon and stop talking!" the same guard barks.

Bess slowly puts her weapon down. As she kneels, she makes I contact with me and mouths, "Attack."

I don't need to be told twice. Leaping into the large group of men with a hopefully ferocious growl, I unsheathe my still metal claws and begin to slash and bite my enemies. I manage to claw just enough so I won't kill the men, but they should still definitely feel pain. An ear-piercing shriek that is easily heard over the alarms escapes from the lips of one of the first men I attacked. Wondering what's going on, I slam my head into the guard I was fighting with, rendering him unconscious, and stalk back over to the crying man. Dark green liquid surrounds the cuts from my claws, and appears to be slowly eating away at his skin. I lift my paw and notice that same liquid is leaking out of my claws. "Bess!" I call, my voice turning into a whine.

"Kinda busy here," she grunts, tranquilizing one guard from another.

More terrified screams come from the guards I attacked. Bess, looking confused, kneels down next to one of the men writhing in pain. She notices the green liquid pouring out of the man's shoulder wound and immediately begins to rummage through the many pockets of her lab coat for something. The red-head finally finds a tongue depressor, which she uses to swab a piece of the liquid. As soon as the green stuff touches the tongue depressor, the stick immediately begins to disintegrate like a match on fire. "Some sort of acid," Bess says as I continue to fend off our attackers without my claws.

Bess suddenly lets out an exclamation that sounds a lot like a squeak. "Now what?" I ask, panting.

She says nothing and points to the man's wounds. The skin that hasn't been eaten off the bone yet is turning a dark purple color. "Are those bruises!?" I exclaim.

Bess nods slowly. "I've never seen anybody bruise that quickly, and the bruises are still getting darker."

"What could that mean?" I ask, head-butting an incoming guard.

"Well, this kind of bruising could mean many things, but when you factor in this type of acid, I'd guess," Bess takes a deep breath before continuing, "your claws have been enhanced with some sort of radioactive acid."

ALEX

This has to be the building where all these men are coming from! It's apparently some sort of large field house with a training facility for all the soldier working on Area 51.

I've been perched up in a tree for about 10 minutes watching all the movement patterns of the men. They appear to be leaving together in groups of 15 about every 2 minutes. If only they couldn't get out of the building or - hey! idea! Maybe the building has a security or lock system I could jam up with electricity!

Deciding to get a better look at how the building works, I fly from the tree to the roof. I find a spot where I have a good view of the door the guards are leaving from (and where I'm not sliding down the side of the roof courtesy of my good friend gravity). A white metal box sitting a few feet away from me catches my eye, so I clamber to it to get a closer look. There's a latch on the side of it that I easily break open using a couple rocks I found scattered on the roof. Inside the box are tons of high-tech looking wires and such, so hopefully I've found what I'm looking for. Right now would be a great time to have Emily with me...

I press my hand on top of the wires and release a bolt of electricity, which immediately seems to mess up this whole building's system. A couple security cameras I didn't even notice at first immediately shut down, as well as that loud blaring alarm. I look down at the door and see its doorknob moving up and down really fast, but nobody is coming out of it any more. I think I have the men trapped! For now, at least. I mean, they're obviously some of the government's best-trained soldiers, so they'll be out eventually, which means I need to get back to Tony ASAP.

ELIZA

I stare down at my paws in horror. "R-radioactive.. I-I am a.. Monster."

With that said, I run back down the hallway in a blind terror. I can't believe it. Ross has destroyed me. I hear footsteps behind me, so I begin to run faster. "Eliza!" I recognize Bess' voice, but don't turn around.

Bess manages to grab my back and spin me around to face her. "Where do you think you're going?" she asks while shaking me.

I push her away with a sheathed paw. "Get away from me, I could hurt you!" I exclaim.

"I see you've discovered my... Upgrades." only one voice can sound this demonic.

I turn away from Bess and see the one and only General Ross pointing a machine gun at my face with a bunch of men behind him doing the same thing. "Come with me, and I won't shoot," he says, stepping closer to me.

I consider obeying but suddenly realize something. "You won't shoot me," I think out loud, "you CAN'T shoot me. Think of all the money it took for you to make me," I glance down at my paws, "this. You wouldn't possibly let all that cash go down the drain."

Ross lowers his gun as he ponders what I said. "You're right," he finally says. "I would never kill you," he turns his gun towards Bess, "but I'm perfectly fine with killing you." And with that said, he pulls the trigger.

Everything seems to happen in slow motion. The bullet flies right into Bess' chest. She gasps, her face paling, and collapses to the ground in a pool of blood as red as her hair. Her breathing becomes ragged, until it stops completely. "Bess!" I scream. "No!"

I unsheathe my claws and turn around to face Ross. "You sir, have just made me very, very angry," I growl, my teeth barred.

I spring at him and, in an act of self-defense, Ross fires a bullet into my shoulder. Pain courses through my already weak body. I crumple to the ground. Ross grabs me by the scruff and growls in my ear, "And this is why you should never try to escape."

Suddenly, a bright flash of light travels down the hallway and hits Ross. He drops me and slams against the wall. All the other armed men flee when Iron Man comes to a stop in front of them, threatening them with basically every weapon in existence. He turns to Ross, who is still limp against the wall. "Get out of here," Tony Stark shouts. "Now!"

Ross immediately obeys, standing up and sprinting out of the building. Alex appears from the same direction Ross ran in. She starts to say proudly, "That miserable excuse for a human being won't be showing his face around here for a - " Alex stops talking when she notices me. "What has Ross done to you?" she whispers, kneeling down to stroke my thinning fur.

"I don't-I... I don't..." I'm suddenly having trouble breathing. My head spins, my vision blurs, and everything goes dark.


	31. The Tesseract

**AN: Just wanna give a huge shout-out to Faliara for the review! Also, Fal, I forgot to thank you for your first review. I know that first chapter is a bit rushed, and I imagine it probably makes a lot of people decide this story isn't for them, but knowing you're still interested in this story just makes me so happy! Enjoy this update!**

SARA

"Anything?" Jane shouts from a few rows over.

I read the last of the description tags on this row then say, "Nothing. Darcy?"

"Nada, but I did find this cool hi-tech iPod thingy!"

"Darcy," Jane says with a warning tone.

"I know... I know... 'don't touch anything unless it's the Tesseract."

We easily broke inside the facility thanks to my copying a SHIELD ID from the database, and are now searching through the rows and rows of old evidence for the Tesseract. This part is becoming hard though, because I never really took the time to notice there's over 500,000 pieces of evidence stored in this large, field-house-like facility. "This is impossible!" Darcy pouts from the row next to me.

"Why don't they have a computer like what they have in libraries to... Y'know... Search for different objects?" Jane asks as I hear her dig through another shelf.

An idea hits me. "You still have me!" I exclaim.

I try to remember the layout I briefly looked at of this place before we left Jane's. A blue map appears in my mind. It's blurry at first, and all I can see is a faint outline of the perimeter. As I think harder, captions on the map appear. They sort each part of the facility into a level of importance ranked from 1-5. If the Tesseract isn't in level 5, I have no idea what should belong there. "Sara?" Jane snaps me out of my trance-like state.

"I think I know where the Tesseract is," I say, ignoring Jane and Darcy's questioning looks.

"Lead the way," Darcy replies.

I walk out of the aisle we were in and towards the back of the building. All the aisles look the same, save for the one we're approaching. It has a large sign with the number 5 printed on it and a black metal gate blocking us from entering. I use the fake ID, which immediately opens the gate. We all start scanning labels. "I think I found it!" Darcy exclaims. We've barely been in this aisle for 5 minutes.

"Is it blue and shaped like a cube?" asks a skeptical Jane.

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am," Darcy replies with an eyeroll.

Jane and I exchange glances, then rush to Darcy. She's standing in front of a shelf 3rd up from the floor, staring at an open silver briefcase. The blue glow of the Tesseract was reflecting off her glasses, giving Darcy's face a haunted look. Jane quickly slams the briefcase shut, making Darcy jump. "Dude!" she exclaims.

"Just because I'm deliberately disobeying Selvig doesn't mean I'm going to ignore his warning about the Tesseract's power," Jane says, picking up the shining case. "From now on, everyone will have as little contact with this as they can while we build the portal."

"Killjoy," Darcy mutters.

Jane shoots Darcy a killer death stare (pun intended) then gestures for me to lead the way to the exit. As we leave the number 5 area, I can't shake the feeling we're being watched. I decide not to mention that to Jane or Darcy though, because they'll probably call me crazy or something. "That was really easy!" Jane exclaims with a smile as we near the exit, casually swinging the precious silver briefcase as she walks.

"Too easy, in my opinion," Darcy says darkly.

"Can we try to stay positive?" I ask as I push open the double doors leading outside.

We're greeted with our worst nightmare.

A group of SHIELD agents decked out in black armor are in a semicircle formation around the exit doors.

"We're toast," Darcy mutters.


	32. Finding Nótt

**AN: I'm so sorry for taking forever to update again. I've been visiting with family, so the story hasn't exactly been my first priority. Oh! What do my fellow Whovians think of Peter Capaldi as the next doctor? I'm done rambling now. Enjoy (:**

LIA

"There is absolutely nobody here," Aiden observes as we snoop around the large atrium at the entrance to the dark stone castle.

"Oh, really?" I snap back sarcastically.

Aiden sticks his tongue out at me then continues his gaping at the cavernous room. "Are you guys done?" I hear Emily ask.

I turn around and see her waiting patiently at the bottom of a large set of stairs that wind around the walls. "Stairs," I say stupidly, "where did those come from?"

"They've been here the whole time," Emily replies dryly, already moving up them.

Aiden and I run to follow her. We both take turns trying to trip each other during our journey up. I'm so focused on not getting stepped on by Aiden's metal foot, I don't realize we've reached the top of the stairs. I end up tripping on the last stair and fall to the ground face-first. Aiden lands on top of me. "Get off! Get off!" I squeal at Aiden like a 5 year old would squeal at a spider.

Aiden quickly rolls off me, and we both shakily get back on our feet. "Awkward," is all Emily says.

We take in our surroundings, which really aren't much compared to the room downstairs. The atrium's ceiling stretches up to this level, where there is nothing but elaborately painted walls and a door directly across from the stairs. Aiden and I immediately run towards the door. We reach it at the same time and begin to push each other out of the way. "Lia!" Aiden exclaims in exasperation.

"I'm going to open this door first because I'm awesome-er than you," I say as I push him to the ground and head for the doorknob.

"Awesome-er isn't even a word!" Aiden stands up and shoves me out of the way.

"Like I care!" Aiden grabs my arm and pulls me to the ground, where an all out fight ensues.

A creaking sound interrupts us. I look up from where I was pelting Aiden with random objects from the atrium (gotta love telekinesis) and see Emily standing next to the now open door. She looks like she's about to say something but instead facepalms while mumbling something about immaturity. We go through the door and walk into a room that's polar opposite of the rooms we were standing in previously. It looks exactly like one of the caves we saw while walking outside, only this cave/room is a lot bigger. "Hello?" Emily says into the seemingly empty room.

Somebody groans in reply. Emily, Aiden, and I all look at each other at the same time and mouth the word "Becca". We follow the sound of the moan deeper into the cave until we find something I desperately wish I can unsee. There, shackled, beaten, and bloodied at the back of the cave, is Becca. "Holy crap," I breathe as Aiden and Emily run to Becca and start undoing her chains.

I shake myself out of my shock and use my telekinesis to easily free Becca. She slumps to the ground, barely conscious. Aiden grabs Becca's wrist, feeling for a pulse. I bet Aiden's happy his weeks of seemingly pointless medical training are finally coming in handy. "Her heart's beating," Aiden says, turning to look at me and Emily, "but only barely. She needs some serious medical attention. I wouldn't be surprised if she's broken a couple ribs, and possibly -"

"Yeah, that's nice," I cut him off, "but we don't have anything that can really help her."

"I'll go find Thor," Emily volunteers.

"Great idea," Aiden nods, "but hurry!"

Emily blasts a hole in the ceiling of the cave room and flies out of it, leaving me and Aiden here with Becca.

Becca lets out another small moan. Aiden and I sit down next to her. "Hey, Becca," Aiden says with a small smile.

Becca's eyes open a little when she hears her name. "Aiden?" she barely whispers. "Is that you?"

"Yep. Lia's here, too."

Becca tries to sit up, her tangled brown hair getting in her face, but gives up and slumps back down to the hard stone floor. "It hurts," she moans.

"What hurts?" Aiden asks her gently.

"Everything." before she can say anything else, she slips back into a state of unconsciousness.

Aiden and I just sit there, staring at her unmoving form. I decide to break the silence and say, "I'm sorry about earlier."

Aiden cracks a smile. "You? Apologizing? What is this world coming to?"

I chuckle. "I know... I know. But sometimes, trying to be the constant optimist takes a toll. Especially when you see things like..." I gesture to Becca.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Aiden gives me a giant bear hug. We stay like this in silence for what seems like forever, but was actually probably just a few seconds. "What just happened?" I ask quietly when Aiden goes back to examining Becca.

"Sympathy," Aiden turns around with a smirk.

"I highly doubt that."

"Me too."

EMILY

After about 10 minutes of scanning the land gliding below me as I fly above it, my sensors finally detect the 4 Asgardians. I quickly come to a landing next to them. They're all crouched down behind a large boulder and jump when they notice me. "Why so jumpy?" I ask, noticing how pale everyone's faces are.

Nobody says a word. Instead, Thor gestures to what they're looking at from behind the boulder. I peek around, and it takes everything I have in me not to scream in horror. The ground past the rock dips down to form a large amphitheater-like structure. In the area is a huge group of what I am assuming to be frost giants. There's thousands and thousands of them packed into the large area. A man wearing green is standing at the center of the group, raised above the masses. I'm just gonna assume he's Loki. "What the - " I start.

"Shh!" Sif cuts me off.

I activate the sound enhancers to better hear what Loki's saying.

"Tonight, we attack!" A cheer erupts from the frost giants. "Those petty Asgardians will fall, and a better race, the frost giants, will rule!" The cheering grows louder.

"'Those petty Asgardians' are your family," Thor mutters. Hogun gives Thor a comforting pat on the shoulder.

Volstagg redirects the attention to me. "What are you doing here?"

"We found Becca, I mean, Nótt, unconcious in a room in the palace," I explain in a hushed whisper. "Aiden thinks she's broken a few ribs, and she barely has a pulse."

"Meh, she will be fine," Thor looks back at the scene below.

"Fine!?" I raise my voice, much to everyone's dislike. "She's dying, and - "

I never get to finish what I'm saying, because Thor covers my mouth with her hand. "Your best friend is immortal, get that through your head and shut up."

"I, Er," my brain goes into overload, "come again?"

"Nótt is my sister, a goddess," Thor explains quietly. "I am pretty sure it is common knowledge even for a Midguardian that gods are immortal."

"I just assumed that was just legend or something," I reply.

"You assumed wrong."

I roll my eyes, even though deep inside I'm happy to know Becca will be ok. The battle cries from below suddenly stop, so I turn back around to see what's going on.

I end up face-to-face with a Frost Giant.


	33. Waking Up

**AN: Faliara - Derfaderms... Fun word ya got there...**

ELIZA

A bright white light shines through my closed eyes. The beeping of different monitors fill my ears. I gingerly move a finger. Yup, I'm finally human again. I try moving my entire arm after realizing I'm no longer shackled. My shoulder begins to throb painfully in protest, and I release a yelp. Someone gently touches my arm and asks, "You alright?"

I go into defense mode. No stupid government appointed scientist is going to mess with me anymore. I've learned what I'm capable of, and I'm more than ready to avenge Bess' death. The beeping of all the monitors evolve into shrill alarms as I open my eyes and grab the scientist's arm. It takes me a moment to focus on my captor because of the large amount of sunlight shining through the hospital room's window.

Wait... Sunlight!?

Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think any of the rooms in this facility are supposed to have windows. That means the facility either underwent a huge redesign while I was out (that included getting me an actual bed), or...

"Eliza! Relax! It's me, Bruce. You do remember me, right? Maybe I should run a concussion test or-"

His rambling is cut off as I pull him into a tight hug, not caring how many IVs are being ripped out of my frail arms. "I thought I'd never see you again," I croak, my voice hoarse from a lack of use.

"SHIELD isn't as bad as I thought they'd be," Bruce admits as he lays me back down and fixes my IVs.

"What happened at that place?" I ask. 99% of my stay at that place was a drug-filled blur. All I really remember is Iron Man, Ross, and Bess.

Bess.

"They turned you into the ultimate killing machine," Bruce says as he looks at a tablet.

"I kind of figured that out on my own," I sigh. "Is there anyway what they did can be undone?"

Bruce puts the tablet down on a table, takes off his glasses, and starts rubbing the bridge of his nose. Uh oh, that's not a good sign.

"I take that as a no?" I ask sadly.

"I have talked with some of the world's best doctors, and there is absolutely no way to reverse your biological changes without risking you becoming severely deformed."

I cringe. "I quite like my face."

Bruce gives a small smile. "I had a feeling you'd say that."

I pause and take in my surroundings - Standard hospital room with that awful smell of sanitizer that I'll probably never get out of my nose and a TV playing Doctor Who. "You, Brucie, are a great person," I say after realizing the episode was Blink.

"I try my best," Bruce flashes a grin.

I sit up a little but immediately feel a throbbing pain from my side again. "Why does my right side feel like it's on fire?"

"You needed to have surgery to remove a bullet, and I imagine the pain killers are probably starting to wear off."

"Where am I anyways?"

"SHIELD facility in the middle of New Mexico."

"Great. When can I get out of here? I need to help my friends!"

Bruce sighs and starts fiddling with his glasses again. "We decided it would be best if you stayed here for the next weeks. The doctors want to keep you under close observation in case any of Ross' modifications go wrong."

"A week?" the heart rate monitors begin to beep faster. "I'm supposed to stay in this place for a week while all my friends are out risking their lives?"

"Yep..." Bruce says somewhat timidly.

I've reached my boiling point. "That's it!" I shout as I rip off the heart rate monitors and IVs. "I am SO over this. Do you think I asked to be who I am? Do you think I wanted all this to happen to me? Well, here's your answer - NO!"

Bruce hurriedly goes to the counter under the TV and returns to my bedside with an intimidating vaccine. "I'm really sorry about this," he says as he grabs one of my flailing arms. "But this is for your own good."

The last thing I remember is the long needle plunging into my skin and everything going dark.


End file.
